Dead Heroes
by 0miicron
Summary: In one final effort to push back the Covenant on Reach, Noble Six is caught up in a world consumed in suffering.
1. Ghosts and Glass

**X**

_August 30th, 2552_

_Aszod Ship-Breaking Yards_

_Reach_

**XX**

"_This is the Pillar of Autumn, we're away; the package is with us._"

Spartan-B312 watched as the swirling clouds obscured the _Pillar of Autumn_, the ship's engines fading into white. Distant flashes of both lightning and plasma alike reflected off of his black MK V(B) MJOLNIR, giving his form a strangely mystical appearance.

Reach was lost.

Noble Six looked at the burning horizon. There was little hope of survival for anyone still planetside now that the last UNSC ship had departed. Anyone that wasn't a Spartan, that was. But even then, nearly all his fellow Spartans had perished. Most everyone had perished.

The Spartan stood in the middle of a dirt road, surrounded by dilapidated and scorched gunmetal gray buildings. A destroyed warthog sat a few meters in front of him, it's melted tires sitting on either side of the disabled vehicle.

He pulled his MA37-ICWS from his back, the counter on his HUD indicating a lack of ammunition. He would need more to face the coming battle. Sparing the purple-orange horizon one last glance, he moved into an adjacent metal building to his right.

The interior was just as weathered and plasma-scorched as the outside. The bloodied body of a Spartan was slumped against the far wall surrounded by two fallen elites. Noble Six made his way over to a UNSC weapons cache in the corner of the room, and took what he could. An M45 Tactical Shotgun and a M392 DMR, along with ammunition for his magnum. He discarded his assault rifle in favor of the shotgun and clamped it to his back, choosing to wield the DMR.

Satisfied with his new loadout, Noble Six made his way back outside, sparing the fallen Spartan a final glance. Outside, the wind had begun to pick up. Freshly burned particles of glass and dirt blew through the air, serving to slightly lower visibility. He glanced at the horizon once more, noticing how the flashes of plasma were getting closer. Even closer were multiple phantoms, all no doubt holding squads of Covenant forces. The purple aircraft seemed to be scouring the area for survivors, most likely hoping to pick off any resistance.

He needed to escape. To fight. To survive.

He wouldn't rest until he could ensure humanity's safety. It was his reason for existing, the very thing he had been created for. Originally, at least.

The sight of one of the phantoms dropping off a squad snapped him out of his thoughts. A multitude of both grunts and elites hopped out of the aircraft. He was running out of time to escape. He quickly moved down the dirt road, keeping a close eye on both his surroundings and his motion tracker.

His motion tracker picked up movement, the red blips recognizing them as hostile. Noble Six quickly took cover once he spotted them. Two elite minors and three grunts, all standing next to a large gray garage building. The garage most likely held some form of transport, making it his target.

With this in mind, the Spartan sighted in on one of the elite's split heads. He opened fire, sending round after round to weather down the alien's shielding. The group of Covenant panicked, seeming to forgo any sense of organization when faced with an unseen enemy. He pierced the shields of his target, finally ending it's life with a bullet to the skull. The remaining elite took cover behind the garage, while the three grunts fired in random directions, hoping to hit something.

Six moved up, darting from cover to cover to avoid being seen. He stopped his advance once he had reached a building on the other side of the dirt road, adjacent to the garage. The Spartan leaned around the corner of the building and fired at the grunts, who were still running in uncoordinated circles. Their bodies all hit the ground with low _thud_s in near perfect sync. The remaining elite let out a distressed roar as it watched it's allies fall, before sprinting out of cover towards where Six was hiding.

As soon as the elite neared, the Spartan darted around the corner and sent a powerful roundhouse kick to the alien's split jaw. It's shields broke from the force and it's head was reduced to a bloodied mess. The elite's body was sent flying back a few meters before coming to rest next to it's fallen comrade. Six glanced at his motion tracker, making sure there were no remaining hostiles. There were none, but he was sure the battle hadn't gone unnoticed. He needed to hurry.

Six quickly rushed inside the garage through an open doorway on the left side of the building. He glanced around the room, noticing the racks of tools and spare warthog parts. Half a dozen civilian bodies littered the floor, caked with dried blood and dirt. He pointedly ignored the corpses and made his way to a doorway across the room that led into the garage itself. He had seen such a sight many times before. He entered the garage.

It seemed his luck held out.

He spotted two intact civilian class warthogs inside. The Spartan approached the nearest one and checked the fuel gauge. The hydrogen tanks were nearly topped off, which would allow him to get to his next destination with fuel to spare. The Sabre Program Research Range. He moved to the still closed garage door and gripped a handle near the bottom. He pulled the garage door up and open, the door's dirtied hinges squealing in protest.

Spartan-B312 returned to the M12 FAV and hopped into the driver's seat, the vehicle's engine roaring to life as he pressed the ignition. He checked his motion tracker once more, before he put the pedal to the metal and peeled out of the garage, speeding down the dirt road as fast as the vehicle would go.

He had a plan. Get to the Sabre Facility, re-arm, hope that at least one other Sabre was functional, land on the lead Covenant ship… Then what? He was confident in his ability to take on the forces on board a carrier, but how would he control the ship? He couldn't fly it, he had neither the know-how nor an AI to pilot it.

That meant he couldn't escape Reach.

The cold reality of his inevitable demise dawned on him, before being replaced by a sense of spiteful determination. He would fall, but he'd be damned if he didn't do as much damage to the Covenant as he could. It would kill him, of that Six was sure of, but that didn't matter. He would take far more of them screaming to Hell with him.

He swerved under a concrete overpass to avoid a Covenant patrol.

So, new plan. Get to the Sabre Facility, re-arm, take Sabre to space and sabotage Covenant fleet command. Simple enough. Only thing he had to figure out now - the warthog bounced as he ran over a handful of grunts - was how to sabotage the ship. He couldn't make another slipspace bomb, seeing as he had neither a Shaw-Fujikawa Slipspace Drive or the materials to rig the bomb in the first place.

So, improvisation. He was good at that.

It was why ONI had made use of him so many times.

_-the screams of insurrectionist civilians drowned out by gunfire-_

Noble Six banished those memories to the deepest recesses of his mind, where they belonged. He couldn't be allowed to be compromised, not during humanities darkest hour.

Back to the plan. He would most likely be able to find a way to sabotage the carrier's reactors, he would just need to fight his way through the ship to get there. Easy enough, he'd done it multiple times before. Six turned the warthog off of the cracked freeway and onto a beaten road that led through the mountains. The road would act as a shortcut to his destination, allowing him to avoid going through the ruins of New Alexandria and being attacked by Covenant forces.

With a clear plan in mind, Noble Six drove down the beaten path and into the mountains. He drove for hours on end, weaving through scorched forests and destroyed roads. The hours seemed to blend together as he avoided Covenant patrols, following the winding roads to his destination. In the distance, the ruined remains that was once the bustling city of New Alexandria came into view. Jagged skeletons of ruined skyscrapers and spires stood as tall as ever, as if to defy the will of their alien aggressors. Two SDV-class Covenant corvettes hovered over the once great city, acting as a base for the multitude of phantoms and banshees that weaved between the slagged towers.

The sight of the ruined city might have once filled him with righteous fury, leaving him with the need to avenge that which had been destroyed. But all he felt was sorrow. Sorrow, and a sense of tiredness. They had glassed his homeworld, turned his family into dust. He had wanted revenge, vengeance for those he cherished. He had learned the hard way that revenge was a fool's game. He could only do his duty, to fight for humanity. And so he would.

Another two hours passed and he eventually reached the coast, the sandy beaches far colder and darker than usual, thanks to the seemingly endless thundering clouds above. The spires of the Sabre Facility quickly approached as he drove through the sand. Once he reached the front gate of the facility, he dismounted his vehicle and checked his armaments. He had 7 mags for his DMR, all holding 15 rounds each, which came out to 105 shots. That would only be enough for a few engagements. He had 30 shots for his shotgun and 4 magazines for his magnum, along with his trusty 10-inch titanium coated combat knife.

He would check out the armory once he made it inside, he decided. He spared a glance at the sea, staring at the blazing orange horizon, before moving towards the terminal on the left side of the large steel doors. He entered the security code, and the steel doors parted, allowing the Spartan to enter. The halls were dark and quiet, the only source of light being the flaring red emergency lights that lined the grey walls.

As he entered the main junction, he noticed multiple gray ghost signatures on his motion tracker. That only ever happened when someone was jamming his tracker, which the active camouflage systems that elites and spartans utilized did. That meant that there was someone - or something - that was cloaked nearby.

He would have to be very cautious.

Six pulled his shotgun from his back and clamped his DMR. The shotgun far outclassed the DMR in close range, and he didn't want to be caught off guard. The Spartan stalked through the hallways, his head on a swivel and his weapon at the ready. He needed to find the armory.

He turned another corner, slowly walking through the next hallway. Up ahead was a steel door with a keypad next to it. The word "Armory" was painted in white just above the steel door, his objective. He glanced behind him once more, before moving to the keypad and entering the security code. The keypad flashed green and the door slid open-

Noble Six dove to the right, barely avoiding a scorching slash from an energy sword's twin blades. He quickly stood up and backpedaled, aiming his shotgun at his attacker. An elite, a zealot if the ornate white armor was anything to go by. In it's right hand was a particular energy sword. The handle was wider than usual and dark black, the lethal blade itself being an eerie shade of reddish-orange. The elite let out a roar in challenge, before charging at him. Six fired off a blast from his shotgun, causing the elite's energy shields to flare.

The Spartan ducked under a horizontal slash and stepped into the alien's guard. He sent an augmented punch into the elite's mandibles, the force of the hit shattered it's shields and it's jaws, a sickening crunch reverberating within the metal hallway. Six deftly avoided another enraged strike, before he grabbed the elites arm with one hand and pulled the elite into a powerful kick, heavily denting it's armor and pulverizing it's insides. The force from the kick sent it skidding back against the wall next to the armory door.

The severely beaten alien slumped to the floor, any remaining will to fight leaving it's body. The creature coughed up a glob of purple blood, before looking up at the Spartan's form.

"Kisa'maa…" the elite rasped, it's broken jaw causing it's usual rumbling speech to come out garbled. With one last hostile growl, the elite's body went limp, signifying it's death. Noble Six shot it in the face with his shotgun anyways. Just to be sure.

Six slowly approached the deceased creature, glancing at his motion tracker. The ghost signatures had vanished, leaving only his own yellow indicator in the center of the radar. So the elite had been cloaked, most likely searching the facility for any stragglers. It was probably not alone, so he would have to keep his guard up. Not that he would have lowered it.

Reaching down, Noble Six grasped the active camouflage module on the back of the elite's armor. He observed the purple and blue device for a moment, before placing it in his own armor ability slot. Invisibility would definitely be useful when infiltrating the Covenant ship. Glancing back at the elite, Six noticed the strange energy sword's handle. He picked it up, careful not to point the end the sword came out at himself. There were three buttons, two in the form of triggers on either side of the inside of the handle, and one circular button on the side.

Six tightly gripped the weapon's handle, impressing the triggers and activating the weapon. The blades sparked to life, the signature electric sound accompanying it. Just like it's handle, the unique energy sword's blade was larger than usual. Orange sparks flew off the weapon as the Spartan held it in front of him, their eerie glow reflecting off his black armor. After a moment of staring at the incredibly lethal blade, he let go of the triggers, which caused the blade to disappear.

After placing the energy sword's handle on his left thigh, Spartan-B312 entered the armory. Many of the weapon racks on the walls were empty, the weapons having been used to fend off the initial attack. There was still a large amount of both weaponry and ammunition, but less than he would have liked. He chose to replace his DMR with an MA37-ICWS, largely due to their similar ammunition and the assault rifle's larger magazine. Six grabbed a few fragmentation grenades, along with two extra mags for his magnum and a spare box of shotgun shells.

The Spartan was about to exit the armory when he spotted a particular symbol on a crate across the room. He approached the crate and inspected it. The label on the top of the box simply read "**_CAUTION_**_: THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON_", and considering the box's rather small size, that could only mean one thing.

Six had just found the solution to his starship sabotage problem.

B312 tore open the top of the crate and looked inside. The box held a small gray and white device, shaped like a very large bullet. Six immediately recognized the device for what it was, discarding all thoughts questioning why it had come to be here.

A HAVOK Tactical Nuclear Weapon. The deceptively small weapon was powerful enough to scorch an area of over 20 square miles. With a yield of 30 megatons, the thermonuclear device would easily be enough to destroy a Covenant carrier. Maybe even a supercarrier if he could get it into the vicinity of the primary reactors. Six reached into the crate and took the bomb, clamping it to his back, just underneath his shotgun.

Noble Six made his way out of the armory and to the main control center. He moved with a purpose, his elegant yet cautious gait something only a spartan could pull off. Once he reached the primary launch controls, he punched in the familiar launch sequences and waited for the titanium ceiling that covered the launch bay to recede. Once it was ready for initialization, Six did one last armament check.

There would be no going back.

The Spartan looked at both his HUD and himself. 4 frag grenades, an unusual energy sword, M6D Magnum with 6 mags, MA37 with 10 mags, M45 shotgun with 50 shots, a hand-held tactical nuke, and his 10-inch serrated combat knife. He had enough to take on an entire army. And he would have to make each shot count to succeed.

Glancing at the launch controls once more, Six moved through the hallway to his right and onto the launch pad. He ascended the stairs up to the cockpit and climbed in, having to shift his body around slightly due to the number of weapons on his armor. B312 ran a quick diagnostic, all systems coming back as green. The Spartan deeply inhaled through his nose, before moving his hand over the launch button. He exhaled, and pushed.

"_Struts disengaged._" a robotic female voice said. The cockpit began to close.

"_Commencing launch sequence; in T minus…_" the Sabre's engines roared to life.

"_Five_" he grasped the familiar controls.

"_Four_" stared into the raging skies.

"_Three_" steeled his being.

"_Two_" and focused.

"_One_" the boosters roared.

The Sabre launched into the skies, gaining altitude at breakneck speeds. Six kept his gaze straight, occasionally glancing at down at the screens in front of him. After roughly half a minute of vertical boosting, he finally exited Reach's stormy atmosphere. The boosters on his Sabre decoupled, and he activated his wing-mounted thrusters. As he flew through the vacuum of space, avoiding the occasional chunk of destroyed spacecraft, he actively scanned for any hostiles.

After half a dozen minutes of flying, a multitude of red blips finally appeared on radar. He altered his course and flew towards the enemy signatures. The Covenant Armada quickly came into view, and luckily - or unluckily for the nuke on his backside - there were no 28 kilometer long supercarriers. There was a single CAS-class carrier, surrounded by CCS-class battlecruisers and SDV-class destroyers. It would be risky attempting to get through to the carrier, but he could do it. He had to.

The Sabre boosted towards the starships and Six readied his weapons systems. He was in for a fight. The carrier sent out a mere dozen seraphs in response to his presence, meaning they were underestimating him. Good.

Six impressed the trigger on the flight stick and opened fire on the Covenant starfighters, pelting their shields with 30mm explosive rounds. The first seraph's shields gave quickly, the autocannons shredding the sleek armor beneath. As soon as the first seraph exploded in a fiery haze, Six switched targets, dodging superheated hydrogen fluoride from both the starships and the fighters. He quickly blasted his second adversary to bits and locked on to his third, a salvo of seeking medusa missiles breaking through the seraph's shielding. The Spartan rolled the Sabre to avoid a plasma torpedo and finished off his unshielded foe.

Half of the initial group of seraphs were destroyed in seconds, Six's unrivalled skill in the Sabre allowing him to decimate the rest even quicker. The Covenant seemed to figure out that this was no ordinary pilot, and began launching spacecraft by the dozens.

He didn't have time for this.

Noble Six disengaged from his current target and changed his trajectory to the carrier's hangar. It would be unshielded to allow the seraphs and banshees to exit, but only for a short period of time. He rolled and weaved through the veritable wall of plasma that assaulted him, only taking glancing hits that barely drained his shields. Six activated his wing-mounted thrusters and flew through the plasma filled void.

Closing in on the unshielded hangar, Six disengaged his rear thrusters and began to slow. This was going to be a rough landing. At the moment before contact with the hangar floor, Six pulled the nose of the Sabre upwards. The starfighter skidded through the hangar bay, running over banshees and their pilots. Six leapt out of the cockpit before the Sabre even stopped, firing at any he could.

Depleted uranium pierced the skulls of grunts and elites alike, the aliens not having time to take cover after avoiding the starfighter. Six landed in a crouch, and sprinted through the hangar, avoiding blasts of plasma and returning fire. He ran to the rear of the hangar, to a doorway that would lead to the engine room. The purple door opened, two grunts inside yelling in surprise. He quickly sent a burst to each of their heads and continued on.

Noble Six stopped just before the next doorway that would lead into another hangar bay. He wanted to preserve as much ammunition as possible to clear the engine room, so stealth would be the best course of action. He would have to be cautious around elites, the active camouflage's motion sensor jammer would put them on edge.

Six activated the camouflage, his dark form disappearing from sight, and moved out. He hugged the walls to his right, careful not to alert any of the scrambling grunts or elites. Just as he was about to make it to the next doorway, his camouflage began to fade, it's 40-second lifespan coming to an end. With his form now fully visible, the Spartan ran to the door, his footsteps impossibly quiet.

Just as the purple door closed behind him, he heard the yell of a grunt from the hangar. Knowing he had been spotted, Six grabbed his shotgun and sprinted down the halls. He encountered surprisingly little resistance along the way, the occasional elite minor or grunt, which he quickly dispatched. The Spartan continued to move through the winding purple tunnels, until he finally reached his destination.

The engine room was large, far larger than he had thought it would be. The roof was at least 30 meters above him, with the room itself being seemingly endless. There were a wide array of purple alien reactors surrounding a massive blue core of plasma. The plasmic core was suspended between two spires, one from the ceiling and the other from the floor. There was a distinctive lack of Covenant within the room, meaning he wouldn't get to use all his ammo.

A shame.

Six ducked behind one of the reactors to avoid a passing elite, the alien rushing to the door he had just exited. It seemed that all hands had been called to the hangars to search for him. Good, it would make his job easier.

Noble Six reactivated his active camouflage and stalked down the narrow pathway between the reactors and the walls. There were one or two elites on the catwalks above him, most likely monitoring the reactor itself. There was no reason to attempt to kill them now, they would all be obliterated by the blast.

The Spartan turned down another narrow path that lead to the core itself. His camouflage ran out once more, but it didn't matter at this point. They couldn't stop him.

He reached the core, his large form nothing more than a tiny speck in comparison. Six grabbed the HAVOK Tactical Nuke from his back and primed it, the tip of the bomb lifting upwards. He placed his shotgun on his back, along with his assault rifle, and held the nuke in his hands.

After a moment, the light on the bomb turned green, indicating that it was ready for detonation. The Spartan stared at it for a moment, contemplating the device that would be his end. He would die.

For Humanity.

He brought his hand over the detonator.

For his team.

He pressed down.

For Reach.

The world was engulfed in white.


	2. That Which Isn't

**X**

_?_

_?_

_Unknown Slipspace Vector_

**XX**

_-I have walked among men and angels for 3000 years-_

Inexistence.

_-I wander the earth seeking forgiveness for my horrible crimes against God and man-_

There was no sense of self.

_-I live to see death and destruction-_

It was everywhere and nowhere.

_-evil over the Light-_

No feeling.

_-But the Light cannot be extinguished-_

Essence spread over an infinite volume.

_-I live in a prison of my own demise-_

Eternity…

_-I am lost to time.-_

Collapsed.

* * *

Green.

That was the first thing Noble Six noticed when he opened his eyes.

A forest, tall and unyielding trees stretching into the sky. Branches covered in bundles of dark green healthy leaves, blotting out the bright blue skies.

Six layed there, in the middle of a small clearing, staring into the leafy canopy above.

He shouldn't be alive.

Spartan-B312 raised his armored hand in front of his visor. The same as it had been before, no new damage whatsoever. He sat up, placing his hands behind him.

The nuke, it should have killed him. How was he still alive?

The Spartan stood, his movements as elegant and smooth as ever. He rebooted his HUD and checked his supplies. Shotgun, assault rifle, magnum, energy sword, combat knife. It was all still there. All his ammunition, all his gear.

He felt fine. No more injuries than he had already had prior to setting off the bomb. It didn't make sense. Six lightly shook his head. He needed an objective. He needed to regroup with the UNSC.

Six looked around him, thick trunks of trees blocking every direction but one. A small opening in the wall of bark, just wide enough for him to walk comfortably through. A little suspicious, but a godsend nonetheless.

He glanced at his motion tracker. Multiple unknown signatures in the trees around him, most likely the local fauna. Six pulled his assault rifle from his back regardless. He moved into the small opening, silently treading through the dense forest. He needed a plan.

Noble Six stepped over a fallen tree and continued moving forwards. He was without support on an unknown world. It couldn't be Reach, as the forest he was currently walking through would be nothing more than a scorched wasteland. That didn't leave him with much, there were many planets both in and out of UNSC territory that contained Earth-like flora. Most of which had been glassed.

The chirping of what Six assumed to be birds filled the air. It was peaceful, far more so than he had ever experienced before. It set him on edge. Six lightly thumbed the safety on his MA37, anticipating the inevitable conflict. But, as he continued walking through the forest undisturbed, it seemed that none would come.

Six noted the gradually thinning trees, which indicated that he was headed in the right direction. After another 20 minutes of marching through the forest, the Spartan finally reached the treeline. It opened up to a large field, green grass and sparse trees lining the plains. With the trees out of the way, Six was finally able to get a clear view of the sun. It sat just below it's hourly apex, roughly translating to mid-afternoon.

He glanced away from the shining star and looked back to the field. There was a strange dirt path that stretched from the visible east hills and into the western horizon. Six approached the path, keeping an eye on his surroundings. It was well beaten, recent footprints of both animal and what he assumed to be human origin lining the dirt. He glanced in both directions, contemplating which direction he should go.

Spartan-B312 eventually settled on west, and began his guarded march anew. He spotted multiple forms of the local wildlife, ranging from large quadrupedal animals with massive antlers to the ever recognizable form of a crow.

It was curious, this planet seemed to contain a very similar biosphere to Earth. While not entirely uncommon, seeing as the UNSC had seeded many life-bearing worlds with Earth-bound fauna and flora, the fact that this world was so similar slightly surprised him.

Six continued his journey, keeping an eye on both his surroundings and his motion tracker. Hours passed as the forests were slowly replaced with rocky hills. The sun began its steady descent, his large shadow lengthening in turn. The beaten dirt path turned into gravel, yet his quick footsteps made no noise.

He was surprised that he hadn't encountered anybody, human or otherwise. There was clearly some sort of sentient life present, the existence of the path he walked proved that. But the lack of an encounter still slightly put him off. What if they had spotted him, and had hidden themselves accordingly? Maybe they planned to ambush him once he made it farther up?

No, from their obvious usage of dirt paths for travel, they most likely weren't advanced. In which case he would have spotted them, and dealt with them accordingly. If they truly were as primitive as Six suspected, then they either weren't human whatsoever, or had been cut off from the UNSC for long enough to somehow degrade back to such barbaric levels. It wouldn't surprise him if that were the case, HIGHCOM had lost contact with many colonies over the past 27 years.

As the Spartan trekked down the graveled road, he spotted a light off in the distance. The sun had set completely by this point, allowing even those without augmented sight to see it. Six zoomed his VISR on the light source and stopped his advance.

It was a house. A farmhouse, to be more exact. A small white house with a covered porch, along with a large red barn. Two brick silos sat behind the barn itself.

The settlement was decidedly human in appearance, similar to old farms on Earth hundreds of years ago. Six found it slightly concerning that the humans here were so primitive, but chalked it up to his earlier cut off colony theory. Finished observing the home, the Spartan moved toward the farm.

As he neared, his instincts began to flare. Something was amiss. Six lowered his form into a crouch, quickly moving towards the porch with his assault rifle raised. Just as he was about to ascend the steps on the porch, a loud crash followed by a feminine scream emanated from within the house. Six was immediately on high alert, adrenaline flowing through his veins.

Noble Six bounded up the steps in a single lunge, before breaking down the wooden door with his shoulder. The door went flying off it's hinges and sent splinters of wood flying in all directions. Time slowed to a crawl as he observed the scene within, feelings of confusion lacing with cold fury. Inside was a most confounding sight.

The corpse of a middle aged woman in a bloodstained apron and light-blue blouse laid on the wooden floors. The handle of a crude looking dagger stuck out of her chest, just below her heart.

On the other side of the room was a man of similar age to the corpse, his face pale with both fear and pain. The source of his pain was the 2 foot long stone shortsword currently impaling his gut. The source of his fear held the sword in it's disgusting, grimey and most certainly _alien_ hands.

The _alien _creature held the sword in place, it's purely evil grin matching those of it's two _alien_ allies. The three little green creatures, with their bulging yellow eyes and disgusting _alien_ smiles, surrounded the poor man. Six didn't even have to think about his next course of action when faced with such revolting creatures.

Noble Six aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger once, twice, thrice. Three thunderous shots rang out and their revolting corpses fell to the ground, all killed in less than half of a second.

His motion tracker showed no signs of more. Six moved across the room as the flow of time returned to normal. He crouched next to the man, who stared at him in absolute shock. If it was from surprise or blood loss, Six wasn't sure.

Six glanced around him for something to staunch the bleeding, but found nothing that would work well enough. The man himself wore nothing more than leather pants and faded blue overalls, now stained with blood. He didn't have any biofoam, and with nothing else suitable to bandage the man, Six knew he didn't have much time left.

The man looked down at his blood-soaked stomach, a look of realization coming to his pale expression. Placing his hands over his bleeding wound, he looked up into the Spartan's golden visor.

"S-sir Knight," he coughed out, "m-my daughter, in the first room across the hall. Bring her here please." Six contemplated the man's usage of the term "Sir Knight", before he stood and nodded. He crossed the hallway and found a slightly ajar door, a teary emerald eye staring at him through the crack. Six clamped his weapon to his back, and slowly pushed the door open.

A young girl, no older than 14, stood in a small bedroom. She wore a pair of black pants and a white long sleeve shirt. Long, dirty-blonde hair reached down to her waist. Her face had sharp features, with her long hair outlining her terrified expression. Six silently stood in the hallway and observed the young girl, before beckoning her towards the dining room.

Tears continued to run down her face as she stared at his towering form, and she took a tentative step forwards. She must have been standing at the door for a while, because her knees wobbled and she fell into the Spartan. She let out a light yelp, and struggled to regain her composure.

Six tensed, but otherwise didn't move. The girl slowly peeled herself from Six's armor, and took a step away. Noble Six gave her a small nod, and walked back into the other room, the young girl following after him.

They approached the girl's father, Six stood off to the side as the girl fell to her knees in front of him. The man slowly raised his head, giving the young girl a bloody smile.

"My beautiful baby girl." His eyes clouded over for a moment, before he seemed to snap out of it. He turned his pained gaze to the Spartan, "Sir Knight, I know I have no right to ask this of you, but will you escort my daughter in my stead?" The young girl's eyes widened, her tear stained expression becoming one of shock.

"Father…" She trailed off, tears beginning to flow once more.

"_Where_?" Six asked, his deep voice slightly distorted by his helmet's speakers. The man let out a rumbling cough, blood spewing from his mouth and on to his clothes.

"To a place called Frontier Town. Take the gravel road west from here, my daughter will know the way from there." more coughs racked the man's body, "My father, her grandfather, runs a blacksmith. Tell him of I and my wife's fate." He coughed again, more violent and bloody than the ones before it.

Six mulled over the man's request in his head. He had no real reason to refuse. It would be a simple escort mission, something he had only done once before, but knew how to do well enough. Plus, the girl could actually be useful if she could lead him to civilization. It would bring him one step closer to contacting the UNSC.

If he could contact the UNSC.

So, with his mind made up, Noble Six gave his assent in the form of a small nod. The man smiled, before turning back to his daughter.

"I won't last much longer, but I just-" the girl's father broke into a massive coughing fit, spewing blood and mucus onto himself. The girl's expression became even more distressed as her father slowly regained his breath.

"Father… are you-" the man put a bloodied hand up, interrupting her mid-sentence.

"I want you to take the knight to grandpa Smith." he paused, his already labored breathing beginning to slow, "You remember the way, don't you?" The girl slowly nodded, her very being seemed to be torn apart by the sight of her dying father. The man let out a low chuckle, quickly followed by another coughing fit.

Six noticed the man's eyes begin to gloss over, and knew that he was about to expire. The girl seemed to notice it too, if her devastated expression was anything to go by.

"Father…" she sadly said. The man smiled, though not at her. No, his gaze was focused on another time entirely.

"Yeah, I love you too honey." his head began to roll backwards, "I love you too…" a blood stained smile grew on his face, and his body went slack.

The girl stared at her father's blood-soaked corpse for a moment, before she bowed her head and sobbed. Six silently watched as her tears mixed with his blood on the wooden floor.

He had seen such a sight more times than he cared to count. Parents mourning dead children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters. At some point he himself had just stopped mourning and focused on fighting, so that they wouldn't have to mourn.

It always pained him how his efforts were in vain. At least Jorge had died thinking he saved lives.

Six glanced at the green corpses behind the girl. Each one of the strange creatures sported a massive hole in it's head, the result of his supersonic 7.62 rounds. They looked similar to jackals, Six realized. Just a bit less avian and more… alien. He turned his gaze back to the crying girl.

"_How did they get in_?" Six asked. The girl looked up at him, then pointed a shaking finger to her right. An open window in the corner of the room, just low enough for the short creatures to climb through. It was slightly puzzling how he hadn't noticed the creatures on his approach, but that didn't matter now.

He allowed the girl another 3 minutes to grieve for her deceased parents, ransacking the small house for anything useful in the meanwhile. They must have been a rather poor family, because Six found next to nothing that could be considered useful.

He returned to the dining area of the house empty handed. The girl stood over her mother's body by the doorway, her hands clasped together and her head bowed. After a moment silence, the girl raised her head and turned to the Spartan.

"I…" she paused, regaining her composure, "I thank you for saving me. Even if you were too late to save them." she lowered her gaze to her feet, "I-I don't have anything to pay you-"

"_Irrelevant. I'll escort you to your remaining family, no payment is needed_." Six interrupted. He was a spartan, it was his obligation to give his life in service for humanity. Even if it was just helping a recently orphaned girl. He glanced out one of the windows in the room, noting the twin moons in the starry night sky. "_Get some rest, we'll head out at dawn_." The young girl raised her head to stare into his visor.

"A-alright." she spared a final saddened glance at her deceased mother, before heading to her room. She paused at the doorway, "Goodnight, Sir Knight." With that, she entered her room, the soft '_click_' of the door following after.

Six glanced at the bodies that littered the room. He would have to find a place to put those.

* * *

The unusual duo marched down the gravel road, the mid-day sun beating down on their forms.

The towering form of the Spartan walked just behind the much shorter teenage girl. Six held his MA37 in his hands as they moved, keeping a careful eye on the surrounding hills and trees. He and the girl had left her house around an hour earlier, making decent time on their journey.

They hadn't encountered any hostile presence since they had begun their trek, but that only gave Six more reason to be on edge.

"Um, Sir Knight…" Six slightly turned his head to face the girl, "E-excuse me for asking, but where is it you hail from?" Six remained silent, causing the girl's expression to become panicked, "I-it's okay if you don't want to answer! It's just that I've never seen such armor be-" Six interrupted her, returning his gaze to the path ahead.

"_Classified_." he stated, not wanting to give out more information than was needed, especially not on some unknown planet. The girl looked taken aback by his reply.

"'Classified'? What do you mean?" She asked.

"_It means I can't tell you_." The Spartan stated with a tone of finality. The girl looked slightly dejected, but continued to gaze into his golden visor.

"Will you at least tell me who you are?" she pleaded. Six noticed dark bags beneath her eyes, a clear sign of a lack of sleep. He was silent for a short moment.

"_Lieutenant Beta-Three-One-Two_." He noticed her confused expression, and continued. "_You can call me Spartan_." She maintained her confused stare for a moment longer, before a small smile came to her face.

"What does a spartan do?" she asked.

Six blinked in surprise. She didn't know what a spartan was? How? The UNSC had used the Spartan-IIs as the very figure of hope for the public. They had plastered them across all forms of media, greatly exaggerating their feats in the fight against the Covenant.

Then again, this place seemed to be greatly lacking in technology, so maybe Spartans hadn't had nearly as much exposure here.

Or maybe she was just really sheltered.

"_A Spartan is a type of soldier. Anything beyond that is classified_." Six replied. He noticed a split in the gravel road about 200 meters in front of them. One led to the north, while the other continued west. Six held out a hand to stop his companion once they had reached it.

"_Which way leads to our objective_?" Six questioned, scanning both of the roads. He noticed what looked like a wagon being pulled by horses on the western road, heading away from the two of them. The sight of such a primitive form of transportation only served to further confound him on the nature of this planet.

"We would go this way to get to Frontier Town." she answered, and pointed down the northern road. She turned her gaze to the other path, "This road leads to Water Town, a trading hub and holy city. I've never been, but my father used to go there once a month before he…" she trailed off.

Six noticed her expression visibly sadden at the thought of her deceased parent. He was no spook, and he had no idea how to deal with emotional people. Or people in general.

So he didn't.

"_We need to move, you take point_." Six turned to the northern path. The girl merely stared confusedly at him.

"Take point?" she asked. Six remembered he was dealing with a civvie, and decided to tone down his usage of military slang.

"_Lead_."

"Oh."

The girl spared him one more glance, and walked down the northern path. Noble Six followed closely behind her, rifle in his hands and eyes on their surroundings. The local star sat high in the clear blue sky, basking the rolling hills on either side of the trail in it's radiance. A steady '_crunch_' followed his companion's footfalls. His own were completely silent, despite each step weighing nearly half a ton.

The duo steadily trekked down the graveled path. As they advanced, Six took notice of several people walking the same path. Some of them wore outlandish and completely impractical armor, with massive swords and spears on their persons. Some others wore long hooded robes, wielding ornate crystal-laden staves. They all reacted to his presence the same as any other civilians had in the past, stopping in their tracks and staring in both awe and fear.

He ignored the stares of the passers-by and continued on, ignorant of his companion's uncomfortable expression.

They soon reached the outskirts of a large town, what Six assumed to be Frontier Town. It consisted of a large assortment of two to three storey tall buildings that lined miles of dirt and stone roads. The buildings were mostly constructed of wood, stone, and glass, although there were some that incorporated more metal into their structures. Crowds of people lined the sidewalks, while carts, carriages, and horses went about their day in the streets.

It was a rather outlandish sight for the Spartan. He was more accustomed to smoldering kilometer high spires and asphalt streets when he thought of cities. Those were the only ones he had ever been to, though he doubted this would even count as a 'city' by UNSC standards.

The people were some of the strangest he had ever seen. Some were tall and muscular, wearing flashy armor with oversized melee weapons. Others were strangely short, short enough that Six would have simply written them off as having dwarfism, had it not been for their normally proportioned body parts. Some even had weirdly deformed ears, the top part being long and pointed outwards.

It briefly occurred to Six that he had not seen a single firearm being used by anyone. There were swords, spears, staves, and even _bows_. But no guns.

That was both confounding and reassuring. A lack of firearms meant that _no one _would stand a chance against him. Not that they could have beaten him if they had them, it would just make it easier to dispatch them without having to dodge bullets.

Six's head was on a swivel as he followed the girl through the crowded streets. The population gave him and his companion a wide berth, being too awed or afraid of his imposing form to get near. The Spartan made a mental map of the areas they moved through, just in case the situation escalated. Being tactical was his forte, and an unfamiliar world was no excuse to slack off. In fact, it was all the more reason to be cautious.

After another few minutes of traversing the streets, they came to stand in front of a two storey building. The structure was rather plain, with a single glass panel on the front and a black door as an entrance. A wooden sign sat above the door, simply labeled "Smithy."

The two went inside, and were greeted by weapons upon weapons. The walls were lined with swords and armor, each piece unique in some way. Axes and clubs sat upon a counter to the right of the entrance, next to a rack of chainmail. The shop was currently devoid of customers, with a single employee standing behind the front counter. The girl approached the counter, Six following a few feet behind her.

The employee looked surprised by their sudden appearance. He quickly took in the Spartan's appearance, then switched his gaze to the girl.

"Farm Girl? What are you doing here?" he gave the towering Spartan a nervous look, his eyes roaming over his black MJOLNIR. "And whos this?" The newly dubbed 'Farm Girl' gave the man a small smile.

"This is Spartan, and he's a knight. ...I think." she glanced back at Six, who stood stock still just behind her, "He saved me from a goblin attack at our farm." she lowered her gaze, a sad frown overcoming her features, "Father and mother… they didn't make it."

Six continued to stand unmoving behind his companion. The girl being called 'Farm Girl' was strange. Probably due to another oddity in their culture. However, he found the name 'goblins' for those disgusting green creatures fitting.

The man looked at Six in surprise, and a distraught frown overtook his expression.

"I… I'm sorry. We should have sent out adventurers to clear them out." the man ran a hand through his dusty blonde hair. Farm Girl sadly shook her head, raising her gaze from the floor.

"You know we couldn't afford it. And even if we could have, no one likes goblin jobs. It just isn't worth it."

Six's brow furrowed underneath his helmet. Adventurers? Jobs? Why hadn't the local military killed off the so-called goblins? It was clear they weren't under the UNSC's jurisdiction, as they would _never _have allowed their people to use such barbaric technology. That also left the question of who actually governed these people. And how he was going to contact his own.

The girl and the employee exchanged a sad look, and the man let out a sigh. He sent a brief glance behind him, before facing the young girl once more.

"I'll go get Smith, he's in the forge working on a special order. I won't be long." with that, the man turned and disappeared into a doorway to his right. Farm Girl let out another sigh as turned to face Six.

"I know I've said it before, but thank you for all you've done." she thanked him, a small earnest smile on her face. Six opted to retain his silence, and gave her a simple nod. He really didn't like dealing with civilians. Farm Girl stared into his golden visor for a moment longer, looking like she wanted to ask something, but decided against it.

All was silent in the shop. Six could hear faint conversation from the 'forge' with his augmented hearing, but it stopped before he could pick up anything useful.

He took the lull in activity to consider his current predicament. He had detonated a nuke on a Covenant carrier, which should have killed him, but didn't. He woke up in the middle of a forest on an unknown world surprisingly not-atomized, and followed a path to a farm. Said farm was under attack by some sort of indigenous - or possibly alien - species, called 'goblins', and he ended them. He had, so far, not seen a _single _sign of UNSC presence, which pointed to one thing.

Insurrectionists.

But even that made no sense. Nearly every Insurrectionist cell was destroyed by the time the Covenant invaded Reach, most of which was by his hand. Plus, the civilians would have recognized the UNSC insignia on his chest plate and attacked him if that were the case. Their lack of firearms or motorized transport was another point against them being Innies. But if they were neither UNSC nor Insurrectionists, then what were they?

And how did they get here?

Six realized that there were most likely no communications relays on the planet. Without that, he had no way of contacting the UNSC. His stomach fell at the realization, any hope he had previously felt quickly left his being. He was stuck.

B312 felt the dark clutches of hopelessness grasp at his psyche, thoughts of defeat attempting to crumple his iron will and steadfast determination. He erased such ideas with a thought. Six couldn't afford to be compromised. If the UNSC weren't here to give him orders, he would have to make his own. It was his very duty to protect humanity from those that threatened them.

Threats both inside and out.

Six's silent musing was interrupted by the arrival of the owner of the weapon-producing establishment.

"-told me sooner. I woulda' slaughtered those green bastards m'self!" a rumbling, most definitely male, voice angrily stated.

A short and _very_ muscular man stepped behind the counter, followed closely by the blonde employee. The short man wore a sturdy looking blacksmith apron and leather gloves. He had thinning white hair atop his head and a large beard of the same color. The man walked out from behind the counter, his employee following after him.

"Boy was never the brightest, now he's gotten himself and his wife killed! Bah!" The old man fumed. He turned to face Farm Girl and the Spartan. "Ah! It's good to see you, lass. I just wish it was under better circumstances." His tone turned somber as he addressed the downcast teen, his one open eye portraying his own sadness.

Farm girl looked to her grandfather with a small smile, "Me too, grandpa Smith." Smith switched his gaze to the towering Spartan, his eye observing the armor Six wore.

"And you're the knight that saved my granddaughter?" Six gave the man a nod, the rest of his dark form unmoving. He just wanted to get this ordeal over with. The blacksmith scanned Six's MJOLNIR with a critical eye, letting out an impressed "Hm" once he was finished. "The armor you wear is more impressive than any I've seen in all my years." Smith eyed the Spartan's golden visor, "Who made it?"

Six made the quick decision to keep any and all information pertaining to the UNSC to himself, now sure that these people were not related to either them or the Innies. "_Classified_."

Smith crossed his massive arms and let out a dissatisfied huff at the word, mumbling to himself as he turned back to his assistant.

"Take my granddaughter to the guest room upstairs and get her a change of clothes." he paused, giving Farm Girl a glance, "Get some food in her while you're at it, she looks paler than an elf." Smith's assistant gave him a nod and led the girl to the door behind the counter, disappearing from view as the door swung closed behind them.

Smith turned back to the Spartan. "Now, I'm sure you had your reasons for savin' her, but I'd like to thank you myself. Pick any one item that catches your fancy, and it's yours."

Six felt a small amount of surprise at the old man's offer, but knew that anything the shop had to offer would be far inferior to what he already had. Energy sword beat greatsword any day. And he didn't need another weapon. He needed a situation report.

"_Unnecessary. I need information_." the old Smith raised a fuzzy brow at that.

"Then I'll answer anything to the best of my ability. Ask away." Smith stated. Six pondered on where he should start, and settled on the first hostile element he had been exposed to on this world. Goblins.

"_Why hasn't your military eliminated the goblins_?" Six questioned. Smith looked surprised by his inquiry, and a bitter scowl formed on his face.

"You're not from around here, are ya lad?" he let out a humorless chuckle, "The King's forces are all _far_ too busy fighting off the Demon Lord's armies in the west to provide security against "mere goblins"." his tone was painfully sarcastic.

Six furrowed his brow beneath his helmet, even more confused than before.

Demon Lord? Was that some kind of name for an opposing nation's leader? Perhaps he had earned the title in combat. Whoever this person was, they were probably dangerous.

The blacksmith continued, "And yet, they still tax us endlessly, claiming it keeps us safe from the hordes of demons the King's armies keep at bay. Bah! It's all hogwash, I tell ya." Smith paused, realizing he had been ranting. "Ah. I apologize. Didn't mean ta' go on like that. Anythin' else ya want to know?"

Six pondered for half a second, a thousand questions flowing within his augmented mind. Eventually, he settled on something he had heard Farm Girl mention earlier.

"_What are adventurers_?" Smith was slightly surprised by the question, if his raised brows were anything to go by.

"You don't know what adventurers are? Your home must be pretty far away, then." the short man looked out the front window, his gaze idly following the passing crowd, "In short, adventurers are mercenaries-"

Six felt his neutral mood dampen at the mention of _them_.

"-that operate through a government-sponsored system called guilds. People have problems, like goblins, and post a quest at the guild, along with a reward." Smith gained a slightly sour look, "If the adventurer returns with the quest completed, the royalty takes a ten-percent "occupational fee" outta' the reward."

The Spartan noted the air quotations Smith made when mentioning the fee.

Smith let out a heavy sigh and shook his head, "It's the reason the King doesn't patrol these parts. They make a killin' off a' the perils of their own Frontiers-men. A shame, to see greed persist over the lives a' the people."

Six considered the information the blacksmith had given him. He _detested_ mercenaries with a cold passion, their lack of loyalty and insatiable greed making them less than even Innies in his eyes. Nothing more than scum.

But…

These adventurers technically worked for the government, even if they got their jobs from private contractors. That alone wasn't enough to raise his opinion of them. They probably held no loyalty to those they worked for, and would leave them in a heartbeat for more monetary gain if the opportunity presented itself.

And B312 was stuck here for the foreseeable future. He would need currency. Food and water. He didn't need to eat nearly as often as the average human, but he would have to eventually. And while he didn't expressly need shelter, seeing as his MJOLNIR essentially protected him from all but the worst of nature, a base of operations would be convenient.

And being an adventurer - if temporarily - would allow him to fight that which wished to harm humanity. Whether it was the disgusting goblins or this so-called "Demon Lord", anything he could to do while he waited for the UNSC to find him would be fulfilling his primary objective.

Six came to a decision, one that would mark the beginning of the end for an unbroken system a hundred-millennia old.

He would become an adventurer to fight that which opposed humanity.

A spartan mercenary. The very thought left a foul feeling in his stomach.

"_How do I become an adventurer_?" Six questioned bluntly. Smith stared at him, his single open eye widening in surprise, before he let out a boisterous laugh. Six found the situation far less amusing than the blacksmith did, as his unseen flat stare conveyed. Smith's thunderous laugh quickly subsided as the man got a hold on himself.

Smith embarrassedly cleared his throat, "I, uh, apologize. It's just that ya reminded me a' somebody else. He's a lot like you, gives me a lotta work, too."

Six was silent, not caring for the man's comparison.

Smith cleared his throat once more and steeled his expression, "It's a rather straightforward process, really. Go to the guild hall, ask the people at the front desk ta' become an adventurer and fill out the paperwork." Smith pointed a meaty finger at the front window, "The guild hall is just across the road. It's the large tavern toward the end a' the street, ya can't miss it."

Noble Six turned his head to look where the old blacksmith had indicated. It was just as he had said, a large wooden tavern across the way, with large lettering across the front coining it "Adventurers Guild". He turned back to the old man.

"_Thanks_."

"It's nothin'. Now, if that's all ya wanted ta' ask, d'ya mind answering a question of my own?" Smith questioned, his tone slightly apprehensive. Six thought for a second, before giving the blacksmith a nod.

Smith grinned, "I'm pretty sure those things on your back are weapons, but they're none I've seen before. What are they?"

Six hesitated to answer. While it was common knowledge in UNSC space what firearms were and how they worked, that obviously wasn't the case here. But he didn't see any harm in giving the blacksmith a general summary of their function.

It wasn't classified information, after all.

"_They are firearms, more commonly called_ '_guns_'." B312 pulled the MA37 from his backplate, "_This is the MA37 Individual Combat Weapon System. It fires six-hundred rounds - small, metal projectiles - per minute at supersonic speeds_." Smith listened intently as Six spoke, his single open eye focused on the weapon's structure. His expression became slightly puzzled when the Spartan finished speaking.

"How fast is 'supersonic'?" Smith questioned.

"_Faster than sound_."

Smith's eye widened dramatically, "_What_?! How is that possible?"

"_Explosions_." Smith looked incredulously at Six, thinking he was joking.

His silence told him he wasn't, "Your people use _explosions _ta' shoot pieces of _metal_? As a weapon?" Six nodded in affirmation, "That…" Smith put a meaty hand to his beard, "Sounds rather effective, actually."

He had no idea.

"_Very_." Six clamped the assault rifle to its place on his back. He looked back out the front window, noting the position of the sun. He would need to leave soon if he wished to consult the guild. Six returned his gaze to the blacksmith. "_I need to go_. _Thank you for your time_."

Smith gave him a friendly grin and stuck his hand out, "No, thank you. You've saved my family's bloodline, and I don't think I can ever truly pay ya back. But if ya ever need an _actual_ weapon, you come here. Got it?" Six firmly grasped his hand and shook it, careful not to grip too tightly, lest he pulverize the man's limb.

"_Affirmative_."

With that said, Six exited the blacksmith's shop and briskly walked down the stone sidewalk. The people around him pointed and stared. B312 made sure to show no outward signs of noticing their attention, lest he garner more of it.

The Spartan approached the large wooden doors at the front of the Adventurers Guild. He reached a hand out to the right door and pushed it open, revealing the interior of the building. Six carefully observed the inside, his hidden eyes taking in every detail.

The inside of the building had similar architecture to everything else he had seen in the town. Tall wooden walls held up the high rafters and ceiling. Flaming lamps lined the walls, providing light in the darker portions of the building. The front desk was directly across the foyer from the doors, two females stood directly behind it.

Multiple wooden tables sat in the open area, some of their seats filled with assorted adventurers, with most of them drinking from large cups of what he assumed to be alcohol.

Six stepped inside and closed the large door behind him. He took one step forward, and the floor _creaked_.

One particular adventurer, a female in shining white armor with a greatsword, spared the noise a glance.

And she gasped. _Loudly_.

Her companion, a black-haired armored male with an even bigger greatsword, looked to see what had gained her attention. His eyes widened and he too let out a startled and needlessly _loud_ gasp.

The next person to look in his direction, another male with strawberry blonde hair and blue armor, followed suit. _Exaggerated gasp_. But this time, it gained _everyone's _attention.

The ensuing silence and feeling of stares were almost enough to make Six reconsider what he had come here to do. Almost.

Six stood still for the half-second it took for him to process the guild occupant's reactions, then moved to the front desk. His usually inaudible steps were akin to rolling thunder in the deafening silence that permeated the guild.

The Spartan stopped just in front of the wooden front desk, and stared down at the wide-eyed blonde woman behind it. The woman wore a navy-colored vest with a white long-sleeve shirt and a black pencil skirt. Her strangely yellow eyes stared into his emotionless visor in slight fear and awe.

"_I'd like to join the guild_." Six's deep monotone cut through the silence like an energy sword through butter. The woman behind the counter slightly recoiled at the sound of his voice, but recomposed herself quickly.

The lieutenant could practically feel the stares boring into his backside.

The guild worker gave him as friendly a smile as she could manage, "O-of course!" she winced slightly at her stutter as she reached under the desk. She came back up with a piece of official looking paper and a quill. She placed them on the counter in front of the Spartan, "Just fill out the areas where prompted."

Six nodded in understanding and grabbed the quill. He briefly inspected the ancient writing tool, before he dipped it in ink and got to writing. He quickly filled out the form, omitting any information that might be considered classified.

The Spartan paused when he got to the name section. He was aware of the strange naming system the people on this planet seemed to use. Their occupational titles in place of actual names. If he wanted to avoid any more suspicion than he already garnered, he was going to have to adhere to the same cultural rules.

Spartan it was, then.

Six finished up the rest of the form with impressive speed and placed the quill in its ink canister. He pushed the paper towards the woman, who blinked in surprise at the speed in which he had finished.

She lifted the form in her hand and skimmed over it, her eyes narrowed in concentration. After a moment of silence, she gave a satisfied 'hm' and nodded, before reaching under the counter once more and coming back with a white necklace.

"This is your adventurer's tag!" she held it out to him. Six took it from her after a moment of hesitation, "This indicates what rank you are. Since you're a beginning adventurer, you'll be starting out as porcelain, which is the lowest rank." the girl pointed to a paper covered board attached to the wall, "Since you're porcelain, you can only go on porcelain ranked quests. Higher ranks can go on lower ranked quests, but unless you're in a party with an appropriately ranked adventurer, you can't go any higher."

Six nodded. It made sense. Keep those who are of certain rank within their own skill range. He wondered how he was supposed to reach higher ranks. Was it like getting promoted? Increase in rank through proving yourself capable?

He probably wouldn't be here long enough for it to matter, anyways.

The woman continued with her explanation, "Once you think you're ready for a promotion, you can request an interview with either me or Inspector." she gestured to a brown haired woman in a similar uniform, who nervously waved at him. The blonde woman straightened her back and clasped her hands in front of her, flashing the Spartan a dazzling smile, "Welcome to the Adventurers Guild!"

Six let out a silent sigh at the cheers that followed.

He hoped the UNSC would find him soon.


	3. Things To Come

**Edit 8-10-2019: _Fixed issue with motion tracker._**

**X**

_2 Days Post-Arrival_

_Frontier Town_

_?_

**XX**

The early morning sun shone brightly over the horizon, bathing all the world in its infinite glory.

Noble Six stood in front of the same large wooden doors as he had the day previous. He had come to stand there after spending the entirety of the night and early morning scouting the layout of the town and it's surrounding area. After much thought put into the subject, Six had decided to take his first "job" as a mercenary today. He had mostly put off doing so the previous day due to his wanting to know what would most likely be his base of operations for the foreseeable future, but also partly because he hated the feeling the knowledge of being a mercenary gave him.

With his thoughts gathered and his mind focused, the Spartan reached his hand towards the doors to let himself in. However, it seemed someone inside had the opposite idea, as the doors swung open before he could reach either one of them. Golden visor met golden eyes, and the person standing across from him gasped.

"O-oh!" Guild Girl exclaimed, surprised, "Spartan! You're here early, I was just opening up."

Six nodded in acknowledgment, and calmly strode into the guild hall, towards the bulletin board that usually held all available quests. Guild Girl watched as he walked past her with a slightly dumbfounded expression. Once she regained her bearings, the woman quickly closed the doors and walked after the Spartan.

"Um, If you don't mind me asking, why are you here so early?" The blonde questioned, stopping right next to Six, who stood in front of the empty quest board.

Six slightly turned his head to look at her, "_Work_," he stated. The Spartan returned his gaze to the blank board, "_Where are the quests_?"

Guild Girl stared confusedly at him for a moment, before realization dawned on her, "Oh! We don't post the available quests for another two hours!" she slightly lowered her gaze and ran her hands over her flat pencil skirt in embarrassment, "Sorry, I guess I forgot to mention it to you yesterday."

The Spartan paused at this new knowledge. It would have been much more useful to have known this information beforehand. If he had, he would have been able to utilize the extra time to scout out possible places of residence within the town. Six, refusing to show any of his inner frustration, turned to leave.

"W-wait! Where are you going?" Guild Girl questioned.

Six paused his advance towards the guild doors, "_Out_." the Spartan stated. Guild Girl stared after his hulking form as he began to leave once more. Right before the super-soldier was able to exit the guild, a high pitched, feminine voice called out from behind him.

"Good morning, Guild Girl!" both the Spartan and Guild Girl turned towards where the voice originated, and a small smile came to the latter's face.

"Good morning to you, too, Padfoot Waitress." Guild Girl returned, giving the bubbly chef a small wave. Padfoot Waitress was a brown-haired girl in her late teens, wearing a medieval-style waitress uniform. She had a pair of fox-like ears on top of her head, along with a long, furry tail thanks to her Padfoot lineage.

Six stared in slight shock at the girl's appearance. Thoughts of how someone could possibly attain such lupine body parts flowing within his mind. He continued to silently stare as she approached the blonde woman who still stood next to the board.

"You'll never guess what I managed to get the recipe to!" The Padfoot exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

"Um…" Guild Girl seemed to think for a second, placing a dainty finger to her chin in thought. After a moment of silence, she shrugged, "I don't know, what is it?"

Padfoot Waitress' grin grew impossibly large, "You remember the soup that they served at the royal festival last year?"

Guild Girl's eyes grew wide in disbelief, "There's no way…" at the Padfoot's excited nod, the blonde woman's jaw dropped, "How?!"

The Waitress gave her a sly wink, "Trade secret." her smile shrank to a more friendly size and she placed a hand on her hip, "I'll be making it the special at the end of this week, hopefully I'll have it mastered by then so it'll be at it's best." It was then that she finally noticed the elephant-or rather, spartan-in the room, who still stood silently by the front doors.

Padfoot Waitress' brown eyes met the towering Spartan's neutral visor, and whatever good mood there once was instantly dissipated. Guild Girl looked nervously between the Waitress' slight glare and the super-soldier's impassive visage. Six's form was tense, muscles coiled and ready to spring into action the moment the mutant showed any hostility. Just when the unnatural tension between the two seemed to almost become palpable, the Padfoot allowed a small smirk to adorn her face.

"Hey… Are you hungry?"

All tension immediately shattered, and both of the other occupants within the hall stared dumbfounded at the Waitress. Well, one of them, the other was merely confused by her random question.

"_What?_" Six questioned, allowing some of the tension within his powerful muscles to fade. Padfoot Waitress wore a friendly grin in response to the confusion in his rumbling voice.

"I asked if you were hungry. Most people who come to the guild this early usually come for food, so I thought you'd be the same." The Waitress paused, putting on a contemplative expression, "Then again, I've never seen you around here, and you'd be pretty hard to miss, so you're probably new." her easygoing smile returned, full force, "Well, maybe not _that_ hard to miss, I didn't notice you when I was talking with her." she nodded to Guild Girl, who stared at her with her mouth agape.

Noble Six stared at the strange mutant girl in front of him. She wanted him to eat, supposedly, something she would be cooking. And while Six would admit that he _was_ hungry, it would be a cold day in Hell before he ate something a mutant made.

"So, what do ya' say?" The Waitress asked.

Six had already made his decision. He promptly turned around and walked out the door.

* * *

Noble Six silently stalked through the forests to the east of Frontier Town. He kept a close eye on both his motion tracker and his forested surroundings, looking out for any of the horned mammalian creatures he had spotted on his trek to Frontier Town the previous day.

Six idly thought of the young girl he had saved from those disgusting creatures. He wondered how she was handling the deaths of her parents.

A large grey blip on his tracker and the nearly inaudible sound of sticks cracking told him that his prey was near. The Spartan was wraithlike as he skulked from tree trunk to tree trunk, advancing on his prey in a manner not unlike that of a wolf. Once he had gotten a visual confirmation that his prey was indeed the same species as the once he had spotted previously, he crouched down just behind a large bush that barely hid his hulking form from the creature's sight.

Six did not feel the need to waste a bullet on his prey, and instead opted to use his combat knife, unsheathing said weapon without a sound. After adjusting his posture to a more aggressive slouch, the Spartan sprung into action. All in one swift movement, the super-soldier leaped from behind the bush, tackled the large creature, and plunged his 10-inch knife into the creature's skull.

It was dead before it could even comprehend what had happened.

With his prey dead and his future meal in mind, Six hoisted the corpse of the horned creature over his left shoulder and made his way back to his makeshift camp. A couple of minutes of weaving through dense trees and webbing from some sort of arachnid later, the Spartan arrived at his temporary residence.

The camp was rather quaint, with a large log as a seat and a circle of stones as a container for the fire he planned to cook his food with. It was in a rather convenient place, a small grassy clearing surrounded by trees, similar to the one he had first found himself in when he mysteriously arrived on this planet.

After a quick session of gutting and cleaning the carcass of the creature he had killed, B-312 sat on is makeshift log-seat and watched his meal cook over a blazing fire, lost in his thoughts. The UNSC, this planet, the guild, that overly friendly mutant that he was sure wanted to poison him. Six still couldn't quite wrap his head around the fact that there was an animal-human mutant on this planet, let alone the fact that there had to be someone twisted enough to create them.

God forbid if there were more.

Six remembered what Guild Girl had said about the quests being posted earlier this morning. That had been around an hour and a half ago, so he had roughly 30 minutes before he needed to return to the guild. Just enough time to fill himself and cover his tracks. Six allowed the venison-like meat to cook for another 10 minutes, before finally taking it off the fire.

Six knew he would, obviously, have to remove his helmet to consume the meat, and gave his motion tracker one last glance. Seeing no signatures, the Spartan placed the wooden spit impaled through the meat on the rocks that contained the fire, and grasped his helmet on either side of his visor. With a twist and a low _snap-hiss_, the atmospheric seal that kept him alive within the suit was broken, and he lifted the gunmetal-grey helmet from his head.

A surprisingly young face greeted the outside world with a seemingly permanent cold scowl. Unkempt curly brown hair fell out of the helmet in short tufts, falling just short of the piercing and stormy gray eyes that were reminiscent of a hawk's. The exposed skin looked as if it had never seen the light of day, being an unhealthy alabaster and covered in scars. The Spartan placed his battle-scarred helmet on the log, just to his right. He lightly shifted his posture to more comfortably bear the barely noticeable weight of the weapons on his back and reached for the impaled meat that was kept warm by the dwindling fire.

As he ate, Six focused all his mental power on the sounds of the forest. The crackling of the embers in the fire, along with the distant sounds of avians singing their morning songs greeted his augmented ears. As he continued to listen, he began to feel something deep within his core. A feeling he would have never thought he could have achieved any day before he arrived on this planet.

Peace.

The call of the birds, the crackling of the fire, the rustling of the leaves. It was something he had never experienced before, and he wasn't sure he had ever even wanted to. War had given him purpose, and that was all he needed.

With that thought, the peace ended, and the storm of thoughts the temporary serenity within him had managed to hold back filled his mind once more. Six opened his eyes, having not even realized that he had closed them, and focused on finishing his meal. He was on a tight schedule, he would have time for R&R later.

After finishing his meal and replacing his helmet in its rightful place, Six kicked dirt over the fire to put it out, and making sure he left no obvious traces of his presence, he began the short trek west to Frontier Town.

* * *

Six stood down the street from the Adventurers Guild, watching the flow of armored and robed adventurers flow through the front doors. There were a lot of people there, much more than had been present the previous day, to be sure. Out of the corner of his vision, the Spartan could see a group of people glancing at him and whispering amongst themselves, almost assuredly about him. Six was mostly used to it and could easily ignore the attention he usually garnered, but it still put him on edge to be in the attention of so many, especially those who were not under his command.

Just as he began to approach the guild entrance, the Spartan heard a familiar voice call out from behind him.

"Mister Spartan!"

Six turned around, and spotted the same girl that had led him to this town the previous day-Farm Girl, he believed her name was-running up the road towards him. Six stood still as she stopped in front of him and doubled over, panting heavily.

"You-" She stood straight and took a second to catch her breath. After her breathing had calmed down, she clasped her hands in front of her and gave the super-soldier a smile, "You're still here!"

Six stared at the much shorter girl before slowly nodding, not really understanding the purpose of such a statement.

Farm Girl lightly blushed and looked away from his visor, "I-I just thought that you might have left town already. You never told me you needed to be here, so I just assumed…" she trailed off, lightly wringing her hands in front of her.

Huh. She was acting rather strange, even for a child. Six thought that it might be due to her recent orphaning, but he wasn't really too sure.

He glanced at the bottom right of his HUD, checking the time with a mental command. If Guild Girl's information was correct, the quests would have been posted around 8 minutes ago. And assuming that there were a limited number of quests for the taking, then he needed to be there as soon as possible to acquire the best paying quest he could.

"_I need to go_." Six stated, and began to turn away from the teen.

"W-wait!"

Of course.

Six stopped, and glanced back at her, his emotionless visor clearly imploring her to speak quickly.

The girl seemed to shrink under his gaze, "W-where are you going?"

"_The guild_."

Farm Girl's eyes widened in surprise, "Wait… You're an adventurer?" she seemed to reach some sort of conclusion within her mind, because her expression transformed from realization to… disappointment? Six wasn't quite sure, he was never good with emotional expression.

"So… you only saved me because it was a quest?" she asked with a frown. Six stared at her, even more confused than he had been beforehand.

"_Negative_. _I have only been with the guild since yesterday_." Six stated factually, growing slightly impatient with the girl's incessant questioning.

She looked more than a little pleased with his answer than was reasonable. To Six, at least, "Oh, good!" She paused, as if she had not meant to say that out loud, "Well, um, I wouldn't want to hold you if you need to get to the guild." _A little too late for that_, Six thought, "I'll see you later, Mister Spartan!"

Six gave her a nod in farewell and turned away from her. He hurriedly approached the guild entrance and entered through one of the doors. The guild hall was as full as it was yesterday, if not even more so. Three-one-two recognized some of the adventurers seated at the tables in the middle of the hall, the same as had been there the day before.

Thankfully, they all seemed too engrossed in their breakfast and conversation to notice him, and he made it to the quest board without so much as a glance his way. Six turned his helmeted head to look over the collage of papers stapled or tacked to the board. There were many different kinds of jobs, from tending to gardens to slaying dragons.

Six almost snorted in amusement at that. Of course this world would have dragons. He quickly decided not to think upon the possible ramifications of such creatures existing. He already had enough on his mind as it was.

The Spartan continued to scan the board until he finally found something right up his alley. An extermination quest for some kind of creature called a draugr. It was a porcelain ranked quest, and it seemed like it would pay fairly well. With his decision made, Six tore the quest paper from the board and turned to the front desk.

"-You can find quests on the board- Oh!" Guild Girl looked surprised to see him. A young-looking girl with long blonde hair that reached down to her waist stood in front of him, staring at him in open-mouthed shock. Six observed her, noticing her strange priest-like robes and her black and gold staff. He felt a slight amount of confusion at why a child would be at the guild, but quickly brushed the thought off. Six turned his emotionless gaze to the woman behind the counter, who's previously shocked expression was replaced with a small smile.

"Spartan!" Guild Girl exclaimed. She glanced down at the paper clutched in his hand, and her small smile quirked upwards, "I see you've found a suitable quest. Just allow me to finish helping Priestess here and I'll get you on your way."

Six nodded in acknowledgment and tuned out the blonde woman as she began to speak to the strangely dressed teenager once again, finding no reason to listen. He idly watched the inhabitants of the guild, making sure not to turn his head in an attempt to make his gaze less obvious. As he continued to watch the adventurers go about their morning routines, Six noticed a brown-haired boy with a sword strapped to his waist approaching the blonde in front of him. He allowed his hand to glide down to his magnum, just in case his intentions were less than friendly.

The boy walked up to the girl and leaned up on the counter of the front desk, giving her an arrogant grin, "Hey, wanna go adventuring with us?" He interrupted. Both Guild Girl and the girl named 'Priestess' turned to him.

"Huh?" Priestess questioned, giving the boy a confused look. The boy raised a brow at her expression.

"You're a priestess, right?" He asked. Six watched as two more teenage children walked up behind the boy, both females, "My party's missing a priest, but we've got an urgent quest to do." One of the females behind him, one wearing some sort of purple martial artists uniform, nodded, while the other merely readjusted her glasses, "We were looking for another person with a certain set of skills, and you would fit that position perfectly. Would you come with us?"

Priestess looked slightly overwhelmed, and gave Guild Girl a questioning glance. The woman seemed to think for a moment, before slowly nodding. Priestess turned back to the trio and gave the boy a nod.

"Sweet! With the four of us as a party, those goblins won't stand a chance!" The boy declared. Six's eyes narrowed at the mention of those green monstrosities. He knew for a fact that if they were as capable as their appearances suggested, they would most likely all be killed if they faced any goblins. He wondered how the guild could even allow children to take quests in the first place. The irony of such a thought was completely lost on him.

Guild Girl looked sharply at the boy and her eyes widened, "Um, you're all porcelain ranked, right?" the boy gave her a nod, "Then I'm sure if you wait a little while, more experienced adventurers will show up." she explained.

The boy didn't seem to agree on her reasoning, and it was then that he noticed the towering form of the Spartan just behind the girl he had recruited. The boy's face went from shock to an expression of realization, and he grinned at him. Six felt light suspicion at the sudden change in demeanor, further narrowing his eyes at the small group of teenagers.

"How about you?" The boy looked him up and down, "You seem capable enough." Six could guarantee that these children had never even seen something as capable as him.

Wait, the boy wanted _him_ to join their quest?

Guild Girl looked up at the Spartan, opened her mouth to speak, but paused. She seemed to think for a moment before she slowly nodded. Whether this was in response to the boy or to herself, Six couldn't tell.

"Well," Guild Girl began, looking at Six's visor, "That could work. I'm sure Spartan here is more than capable of helping you. That is, if he's willing?" Six gazed at the woman behind the counter, before looking to the group of teenagers. They all stared at him, and the boy seemed to have stopped breathing for some reason.

Six carefully considered his decision. On one hand, he in no way wanted to work with anyone else _period_. It would feel… wrong. Especially after he had just lost the last of Noble team. But he couldn't just allow children to go off to their deaths. And while he doubted his ability to dissuade them from taking the quest without having to resort to threats, he did _not_ doubt his ability to keep them safe, should he accompany them.

Six had to withhold an annoyed sigh at having to work with children.

Irony strikes once again.

With his decision made, Six nodded, and dropped his own quest on the counter, "_Hold that for me_. _This won't take long_."

The group looked shocked at his acceptance, and the boy pumped a fist in the air. Guild Girl looked even more surprised than the rest, but she quickly seemed to shrug it off in favor of giving the Spartan a smile.

"Ah, I will." The blonde woman looked to the boy, who was chatting with his purple clothed companion, "Do you need the quest location?"

The boy shook his head in the negative, "Nah, we already know where to go, but thanks anyways." Guild Girl nodded in acceptance and smiled at the group.

"Alright, be safe!"

After the rest of the group waved their goodbyes, the boy led them out of the guild, and towards their destination.

* * *

"Well, this is the place." The boy, who Six had discovered to be named Warrior, stated.

They stood in the middle of a small opening within a forest, roughly an hours walk away from Frontier Town. The "place" that the sword-wielding boy was referring to was a small opening in the side of one of the walls that surrounded the path they had been taking. To the right of the entrance sat some kind of decorated skull mounted on a pike. The Spartan felt slight unease at the eerie sight of such a barbaric construction, lightly thumbing the safety on the MA-37 in his hands.

Warrior looked slightly apprehensive as he looked at the impaled skull, but put on a brave face as he glanced back at the younger members of the group.

"Alright, um…" The boy trailed off, seeming to not know where to go from there.

Six took the lull in speech to take the lead, "_I'll take poi_-_lead._" the Spartan had to remind himself to speak in a manner that civvies would understand, "_I need to know each of your offensive capabilities. You,_" Six nodded to Warrior, "_How do you fight?_"

Warrior looked caught off guard by Six's sudden speech, but he recovered quickly, "I usually just use my sword, but I'm no slouch with my fists." He pulled his sword out of its scabbard and showed it off to the Spartan.

Six shook his head at the boy after seeing his sword. It was at least a foot too long to be properly utilized inside of a cave as small as this. Warrior would need to find a different way to fight, "_Your blade is too long for swinging within the cave. Either use hand-to-hand or stabs to fight off any goblins you encounter._" The boy looked like he was about to argue, but after a glance at the size of the cave and, comparatively, his sword, he merely settled for grumbling under his breath.

Six briefly contemplated allowing the boy to use his combat knife, but ultimately decided not to. The teen would probably reject the offer anyways. He then turned to his next teammate, the girl in purple. She noticed his gaze and answered without his prompting.

"I spent years under the tutelage of my father, learning the martial-arts style we've kept in our family for generations." She stated, slightly puffing her chest out in pride. Six would be the judge of whether or not she deserved that pride, "So I'd say I'm pretty good with my fists." Six gave her a nod, then turned to the one called "Female Wizard". He didn't quite understand the relevance of her namesake, but assumed that she would soon explain it to him.

The aforementioned girl lightly pushed up her glasses, "I am an accomplished practitioner in the Sage Arts. I graduated from the Sage Academy at the top of my class in both the practical and written forms of the Sage Techniques." She said, an aura of arrogance radiating off her every word.

Six had absolutely no clue what a "Sage Art" was, but it didn't sound like it had any real use within any combat scenario. Then again, dragons were apparently a thing, so he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"_Sage Arts?_" Six questioned. The girl looked at him as if he had just blasphemed her religion.

"Y-you don't know what the Sage Arts are?" she continued to look at him like he was some ill-minded degenerate, "How could you not? All of the King's greatest advisors throughout history have been masters in the Sage Arts!

Six impassively stared at the teen as she spoke. He really couldn't care less.

"_What are you capable of, offensively?_" He neutrally asked. He hoped the irate girl would give him an actual answer this time.

Female Wizard made a face portraying some emotion Six couldn't decipher, "I am proficient at the three basic level incantations- Flame, Gust, and Force -and I can cast the Healing technique." she sent a small glare at Priestess for some unknown reason, "And while the Sage Arts might not be as… powerful as a priests miracles, I am not limited whatever amount of casts my deity deems sufficient. As long as I have enough mana, I will be able to fight." she finished with a huff, giving the Spartan a slight glare.

Six understood none of what she had just "explained" to him. The witch-like girl couldn't possibly be saying that she could use some sort of… _magic_, could she? The Spartan felt his head spin at the very thought of it.

"_Could you demonstrate?_" Despite the confusion he felt, Six made sure to maintain his disciplined mindset. Showing weakness would only serve to lower his team's morale.

The girl seemed to think to herself for a moment, before nodding, "Yes, I could. But only one of the basic level incantations, using the Healing technique requires an injury to use it on." Female Witch finished, staring at him expectantly.

Six thought about which one would hypothetically be the best to use for close-quarters combat. Flame would probably be the worst out of the three, simply because they would have to halt their advance to avoid being burned, thus leaving them susceptible to an ambush from the rear. He assumed Gust to be a blast of wind, which would be next to useless against the goblins, seeing as there would be nowhere to blow them into. That left Force, and he had next to no clue as to what it could be.

Six couldn't believe he was devising strategies on how to use magic. If only his Chief-Instructor could see him now, "_Show me Force._"

The girl nodded, pushing up her glasses, before she turned towards a fallen tree slightly further up the path. She closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate for a moment. Female Wizard, opening her eyes, pointed the crystal-tipped end of her staff at the midsection of the trunk. The orange crystal began to glow with a similarly-colored other-worldly radiance, and Six felt his eyes widen when she spoke.

"**Force**."

A blast of pure, concussive _Force_, ripped through the air, blasting anything within it's path aside. The blastwave made a sound akin to rolling thunder as it moved, causing the rest of the group, sans the Spartan, to flinch. Within the blink of an eye, the visible shockwave reached the log and shattered it's center. The remaining pieces on either side of the impact point were thrown at least 5 meters down the path, roughly rolling before coming to rest.

But there was something… _wrong_ about her voice when she had spoken. It was almost as if it was a multitude of people speaking at once, with a voice far deeper than her's overcoming the girl's own voice.

The rest of the group stared in shock at the display of power, the three non-wizard teens in particular. Warrior looked at the results of the blast in open-mouthed shock. He turned to the Wizard, who looked mildly winded, and gave her an awed look.

"Woah." he simply stated, clearly impressed.

Six had to agree with his statement, although he was far less awed than he was contemplative. He couldn't possibly fathom how Female Witch had done what could only be explained as unexplainable.

A lot of things on this planet seemed to fit that description, now that he thought about it.

The Spartan's thoughts kicked up a notch as he began to think about the possible applications of these… Sage Arts in warfare. The idea that any human could fire blasts of fire, air or pure concussive force at will, made him wish the UNSC had discovered this strange planet sooner. And Female Wizard was apparently only a _novice_ at best. If given time and proper training, who knew what kind of soldiers the UNSC could create.

Who knew how the War would have gone if he had they had this kind of power at their disposal. Maybe then, so many wouldn't have had to suffer. Maybe then, so many wouldn't have had to _die_.

"U-um, Mister Spartan?" Six snapped out of his inner turmoil at the sound of the blonde-haired girl's voice. He mentally berated himself for appearing weak. This _couldn't _happen again.

Six looked to Female Wizard, who seemed to have recovered from her previous fatigue and was staring expectantly at him, and nodded, "_Impressive._" Six stated simply.

The Wizard's lips lightly quirked upwards at his comment and she, along with the rest of the group, turned to Priestess.

Six nodded to the girl, indicating for her to speak. Priestess straightened her back and tightened her grip on her ornate staff.

"I-I have been trained to use miracles of the Earth Mother in the Temple. I c-can cast, um, Holy Light, and Minor Heal." the girl paused, "H-Holy Light can, um, blind people or provide light when t-there is none. A-and Minor Heal can heal s-small injuries." she explained, nervously stuttering in-between her sentences.

Six assumed that these so-called "miracles" were also some kind of magic, seeing as she had referenced to their usage as "casting". He immediately wrote the 'Holy Light' miracle off as nearly useless, seeing as he had both near-perfect night vision and the dual halogen lights on either side of his helmet, and warrior had brought a simple wooden torch with him. That left the one called 'Minor Heal', which would be useful for any injuries the others might obtain.

Six quickly formulated a squad formation in order to best utilize the adventurers abilities, while also allowing himself to assist, should they need it.

The Spartan looked to Warrior, "_You and Priestess will form up behind me. You two,_" he pointed to Female Wizard and Fighter, "_will cover our rear._" Six addressed Female Wizard, "_Use Force to eliminate any hostiles at range._" he turned to Fighter, "_Kill any that get too close._" Finally, he took a step back and surveyed the _children_ he was about to lead into battle, "_Do not be afraid to ask for assistance should you need it, and do __not__ let your guard down._" Six spoke, channeling as much as his inner authority as he could, "_Understood?_"

They all nodded, faces serious and postures rigid, although Priestess still looked to be slightly nervous. Six turned to face the open cave and clamped his assault rifle onto his back, choosing instead to use his combat knife. His ranged weapons would only serve to alert the goblins and deafen his allies.

Once ready, Six glanced back at his team and waved his hand forward. After a moment of scrambling and Priestess nearly running into the Spartans backside, they were in proper formation, and ready to advance. Six lead the group inside the dark and dreary cave. Warrior held out a freshly lit torch in his left hand, providing equal light for both sides of the team.

Six kept a keen eye on both his motion sensor and the deep cavern ahead of them as he silently marched forwards. With a thought, Six activated the lights on his helmet, sending beams of bright light down the narrow pathway. He heard a gasp come from behind him, but continued onward when no one spoke up.

A couple of minutes of walking and light chatter from the other adventurers later, Six noticed the path ahead split into two, with another tunnel off to the right. He glanced at his motion tracker and noticed multiple Grunt level signatures in the side tunnel, most likely hostiles. The Spartan held up a clenched fist to signal the rest of his team to stop, but the small impact and the light "Oof" from behind him clearly showed they hadn't understood.

"_Hold here. I'll scout ahead._" Without waiting for their reactions, Six silently moved forward, combat knife in hand. His helmet slowly moved back and forth as his augmented eyes darted from tunnel to tunnel, occasionally checking his motion tracker for anything he couldn't see.

Without a sound, the Spartan stalked around the curve of the tunnel to the right and spotted his enemies. 5 of the disgusting, green creatures that plagued the humans of this world. They all stared directly at him, clearly shocked at the sight of his armored form. Just as the one nearest to him looked like it was about to act, the Spartan lunged forwards, burying his combat knife up to the hilt in the infernal creature's misshapen head. Before any of the remaining goblins could react, Six lashed out with a kick that splattered the next one's brain and bits of skull on the cave walls.

Two down, three to go.

Six tore his combat knife from his first victim's skull and roughly slit the throat of another goblin, the creature making choked gurgles as it drowned in it's own blood. He pulverized the next's body with a lightning-quick punch to it's grossly malnourished abdomen, before delivering a powerful stomp to it's head to end it's life. The last of the disgusting creatures sat with it's back against the wall, pointing it's primal looking dagger while shaking in fear. In the blink of an eye, the Spartan threw his combat knife, the weapon finding purchase perfectly between the creature's eyes. The goblin was killed in an instant.

With the last of the green creatures dead, Six retrieved his blade, allowing the goblin's previously impaled corpse to slump to the ground. He quickly surveyed his surroundings, and found that the area he had just fought in was just a small pocket of open space, not really leading anywhere. It seemed the goblins utilized this area to ambush intruders, and such a fate would have befallen his team had he not acted in advance.

Six looked down at himself, seeing that he was clean of any blood or gore that could have been left after his assault on the green monstrosities thanks to his energy shielding.

The Spartan, after piling up the mangled corpses of the jackal-like creatures, returned to the main tunnel. His team all gave him surprised looks, and Warrior spoke up.

"That was fast. Did you see anything down there?" the boy questioned.

Six nodded, revealing his bloodied combat knife, "_Five goblins. Looked like they were waiting to ambush any intruders. I took care of them._" He calmly stated.

Warrior's jaw dropped, and the rest of the group's eyes went wide.

"B-but you were only gone for like ten seconds!" the boy objected, disbelief coloring his tone. The others nodded in agreement. Well, he had been gone for 12 seconds, but Six didn't see any reason to correct them.

"_Form up. We're going into the right tunnel, be on guard._" the adventurers quickly shuffled into their assigned positions behind the super-soldier, and they continued their advance deeper into said tunnel. Female Wizard and Fighter returned to their previous conversation, although much quieter than they were before, while Priestess and Warrior remained silent. Six could appreciate that.

Noble Six narrowed his eyes at the tunnels ahead as multiple grunt-level signatures popped up on his motion tracker, along with a much larger Elite-Spartan level signature in the middle of the smaller signatures. The way they were spread out, along with the potential size of the larger signature, told Six that there had to be some sort of open area ahead to contain them.

Six's theory was soon proved to be true, as the tunnel the group had been traveling down opened up into a large, rocky cavern. The open space contained at least 10 goblins, with a strangely dressed goblin that held a similar staff to the one Female Wizard used, sitting in some sort of throne made of what Six assumed to be human bones. The sight filled him with a cold rage, but he quickly clamped down on the surge of emotion. In the middle of all the goblins, sat some sort of super-goblin. It was tall, easily as tall as the average man. Six was still taller by quite the amount, but seeing such a large variant of the creature was certainly disconcerting.

As Six processed the sight before him, he held up a fist, telling the others behind him to hold their positions. He watched the line of signatures on his motion tracker hold position just behind him. Good, they had picked up at least one of his hand motions.

"What do yo-" Six quickly silenced Warrior by holding a finger to the front of his helmet.

Six spoke to the group behind him in a low whisper, "_Hostile contacts in the room ahead. Ten goblins, one abnormally large goblin, and one with a staff in a throne._" the group's collective eyes widened in surprise, no doubt at the number of goblins, "_Work together to eliminate all hostiles, but prioritize the one with the staff, it's most likely the leader. I'll take care of the abnormal. Understood?_"

His team nodded, and their expressions hardened. Six watched their faces for a moment, before turning back to the goblin filled room in front of him. He considered using his shotgun, but quickly ruled it out. As great as his aim was, the spread on the shot would be too unpredictable, not to mention if they were to ricochet. No, firearms would just pose too much of a hazard to his teammates.

He would have to make do with his combat knife, and, if need be, his energy sword.

Six flipped his grip on his blade, "_We engage on my mark._ _Ready,_" Six placed his free hand on the handle of the energy sword, a plan on how to kill the large goblin taking form within his mind, "_mark!_"

The Spartan shot forward, becoming nothing more than a dark blur to even the sharpest eyes. His team hastily followed after him, Warrior and Fighter letting out battlecries as they attacked the surprised goblins. The green monstrosities let out shrieks as the adventurers began to slowly kill them off.

Six was nothing more than a flash of gray as he engaged the abnormal goblin. Before the disgusting creature could react to his presence, he plunged his blade into its neck, the creature letting out a choked cry as it's lungs were filled with it's own blood. Six tore the 10-inch blade from the creature's throat, allowing blood to spurt out of the wound like a gory fountain. But the hulking goblin was not yet dead. No, it was clearly still alive, and it was _mad_. Like a cornered animal, the goblin wildly swung it's meaty arms at the Spartan, the first of which he dodged with speed and elegance that only a spartan could possibly possess.

Just when the creature began it's second swing, Six decided this battle -_if it could even be called that_\- needed to end. With speed and strength only a spartan of his caliber could ever hope to muster, Six grabbed the offending limb, and with a disgusting _squelch_, tore it from it's socket, sending blood and giblets of fleshy gore flying across the cavern. The massive goblin let out an _excruciatingly_ loud, gurgled cry, as blood continued to flow out it's mouth, throat, and shoulder. Six threw the limb at a distracted goblin, the strength put into the throw giving the creature no time to react, resulting in it's rather embarrassing death. The behemoth of a goblin fell to it's knees, no longer having the will or the strength to continue the fight.

Six stared down at the bleeding creature before him and grabbed the hilt of the alien weapon from his thigh. With a hiss and a spark, the hallowing orange plasma came to life, promising a quick and painful death to any that may oppose it. Six gripped the handle tightly and swung the blazing blade of death horizontally.

The monstrous goblin's head fell to the ground with a loud sizzle, with it's lifeless and bleeding body quickly following after.

The Spartan had _executed_ it.

With his foe dead and his mind focused, Six loosened his grip on the hilt of the bright orange blade, before replacing it on his left thigh. His eyes widened in surprise when his shields suddenly dropped by 10%, and he began frantically looking around for his attacker.

The rest of his team were handling the goblins -or what remained of them- quite well, even for humans without any sort of modern weaponry. Warrior and Priestess were together, with the former guarding the latter from the assault of two goblins wielding stone shortswords. Warrior swung his sword back and forth to either strike at the green monsters or parry one of their admittedly weak blows. The other two members of his team were fighting off the last of the goblins, with at least 3 of their corpses in the duo's wake. The crumpled body of the goblin that was previously sitting atop it's bony throne now sat on the floor to the right of it's seat. Six assumed that to be Female Wizard's handywork, seeing as she was the only one who could have killed it at range.

But what the Spartan found most confounding was the lack of attacker on his part. Of course, his shields had already regenerated in the short time he had spent surveying the battlefield, but there was nothing in the room that could have attacked him.

Unless…

Six quickly put two and two together, and with a thought, pulled up the energy sword's status on his hud.

The sword, which had previously been at 90% charge due to the goblins beheading, now sat at 100%. Six felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards in an ever-so slight smirk as he realized what had just happened.

The energy sword had recharged using his shields.

Six spared his teammates a glance. They were clearly beginning to grow tired, if Warrior's slowing swings and Fighter's sluggish jabs were anything to go by. The Spartan quickly decided to continue his pondering on the alien weapon at a later date, and moved to assist his team. In less than a second, Six crossed the distance between himself and the goblins assaulting his sword-wielding ally and quickly engaged.

The Spartan sent a roundhouse kick into the backside of the first unsuspecting goblin, shattering it's spine and splattering it on the nearest wall. The other one didn't even have time to react before Six plunged his blade into it's vertebrae, killing the snarling creature instantly. As soon as he wrenched his combat knife from the creature's limp corpse, he looked to Female Wizard and Fighter, but was relieved to see that they had eliminated the last of the goblins on their side.

All his teammates looked absolutely exhausted. Both Fighter and Warrior sported shallow cuts along their torsos and arms, but nothing fatal. The two magic-using members of the team were nearly free of injuries, save for a small gash on Female Wizard's left arm.

After a moment of silence, Six's teammates taking the time to regain their breath, Warrior seemed to notice something.

"H-hey, where're the girls? There were supposed to be some kidnapped girls here. Rescuing them was the whole point of the quest!"

That was news to the Spartan, "_You never mentioned kidnapped girls_." Why would the goblins kidnap human females anyways? Wouldn't they just kill them?

Warrior looked slightly embarrassed as he scratched the back of his head, "Heh, uh, whoops. Must've slipped my mind at the time. Sorry."

Six honestly wasn't surprised that he had managed to forget to tell him the primary objective of the quest, the boy hadn't exactly proven himself to be the brightest.

Fighter tiredly walked up to Warrior and weakly slugged him in the arm, the boy giving a greatly exaggerated "Ow!" in response.

"You're an idiot." she stated simply, something the rest of the team seemed to agree with.

Priestess looked at Six, "Um, w-what do we do now?" the rest of his team all looked to the Spartan, clearly expecting him to know what came next.

And so he delivered, "_Heal Warrior and Fighter's injuries. We leave once they are in optimal condition._" The girl nodded in understanding, and quickly got to work, chanting that in the same strange double-tone that Wizard had when she cast her own magic.

Six went from corpse to corpse, checking both his motion tracker and kicking or stomping on the bodies to verify their kills, just to be safe. Once the Spartan was sure that all of the corpses were well and truly dead, he gave the order to move out, leading his team back the way they came.

If the group had stayed just a moment longer, they would have heard the faint sound of an infant's cries echo throughout the cave, originating from behind the shattered remains of the goblin's throne. An omen of things to come, for many.

* * *

"Welcome back!" Guild Girl greeted the group. Six led his soon-to-be dissolved team to the front desk.

"_The goblins are dead._"

Guild Girl looked visibly surprised by his statement, "W-what? You already finished the quest?" She looked to the other members of his group for confirmation. Her eyes widened further at their collective nods, "B-but how? You've only been gone for three hours!"

The rest of his team looked to the Spartan, slightly awed expressions on their faces.

"It was mostly him, if I'm being honest." Warrior spoke, looking humbled of all things, "I don't know what would have happened to us if he hadn't come. I still can't believe that you _ripped_ that thing's arm off!"

Fighter nodded her head, looking at the boy with an amused smile, "He's right. Without Spartan's skills and leadership, I honestly think we'd be dead." she shivered, a slightly disgusted look on her face, "Or worse."

Female Wizard gave Six a smirk, "His physical capabilities are beyond exceptional, and he is a formidable leader." she pushed up her glasses at the end of her statement, "I can say with certainty that our success was mostly thanks to him."

Priestess nodded in agreement, giving the Spartan a smile.

Six felt a generous amount of surprise at their statements. Yes, he knew for a fact that he had done the majority of the work, but for them, _children_, to admit it. That was not what he had expected. The Spartan gave his former teammates a contemplative look, his emotionless golden visor staring down at them.

Maybe these kids weren't so bad. Six still would have preferred working alone, as he usually did, but being on a team with them hadn't been… unpleasant. Just inconvenient.

With that thought, Six gave them a simple nod, and they grinned.

Guild Girl, seeming to overcome her previous surprise, gave the group one of her signature warm smiles, "Well, I'm glad that your quest was successful. Do you happen to have your quest sheet on you?" Warrior pulled a folded up piece of paper from a small pouch hooked to his pants, and handed it to the blonde-haired woman. She unfolded it, spent a moment reading whatever it said, and wrote something on the massive book that sat on the counter next to her. Guild Girl glanced back at the quest sheet, before she opened a cabinet behind the counter, and produced a large sack.

The metallic jingle the sack made upon contact with the counter clearly identified it as their reward.

"Here's your reward, five gold and ten silver coins."

Six wasn't sure how much five gold coins was, but it had to be quite the amount, considering the rest of his former team was practically salivating.

Guild Girl's smile grew at the sight of their reactions, "I'll also need one of you to fill out a report of what happened. Nothing too much, just a short summary of any notable events."

Warrior stepped forward, leaning against the counter, "I'll do it." the boy widely grinned as he grabbed the bag of currency from the counter top.

The former team quickly split the funds equal amongst themselves, each of them ending up with a single gold coin. Six watched as the rest of the group exchanged glances, as if silently coming to some sort of agreement.

The Spartan was slightly confused when Female Wizard held out the sack, which still held the remaining 10 silver coins within.

The witch-like girl smiled when he didn't move to take the sack, "Spartan, we all know and acknowledge that you are essentially the sole reason we came out of that cave alive. As such, we've agreed that you should take the remaining coins, as a way of giving our thanks." the others nodded at her speech, seemingly in agreement.

Six looked between their faces, and slowly took the sack from the girls comparatively tiny hand. He placed his gold coin in the small cloth bag before placing it inside of a small compartment on the underside of his chestplate.

Six felt his lips slightly upturn in the ghost of a smile, "_Thank you._"

With their quest done and the group of adventurers safe, Six considered his business with them done. His former teammates expressed a decent amount of disappointment at his sudden departure, but the Spartan, for what little amount of camaraderie he shared with them, was adamant in his leave.

He still had a job to do, after all.

* * *

_Adventurers Guild - 3 days post-quest:_

"-ave you seen Spartan, by chance?" Priestess questioned, worried.

Guild Girl shook her head in the negative, "I'm afraid not. He took an extermination quest yesterday, though I'd have to get permission from the guild administration if you want to know where the quest sent him." the blonde woman gave the younger girl a curious look, "Though, if you don't mind my asking, why are you looking for him?"

Priestess frown deepened in disappointment, "I-I was hoping we could go on another, um, quest together." the girl looked slightly embarrassed as she spoke, "I'd go with Warrior and Fighter, but, um, no offense to them, they aren't as… _reliable_, as Spartan is." despite the fact that the girl was objectively right, she still looked ashamed.

Guild Girl let out an amused laugh at Priestess' statement, "Well, you're not wrong." Guild Girl spared the opening doors behind the girl a glance, and her eyes widened in surprise.

The blonde woman seemed to think for a second before something clicked, and she gave the younger girl a smile.

"I think I may have found a solution." At Guild Girl's confusing statement, Priestess turned to look at what the older woman was referencing, and her eyes widened.

Guild Girl excitedly waved her hand at the figure in the doorway, a fond smile and a light blush on her face.

"Welcome back, Goblin Slayer!"


	4. The First of Many

_"You have lost."_

_Don't make me laugh. I own this world. They worship me._

_"He will come for His."_

_Let Him! They will fall before me long before He comes!_

_"Do not be so sure, Adversary."_

_"For the Rock is strong, and you are but sand in the breeze."_

**X**

"I told you we should've taken the sewer job!" A brown-haired teenage boy, clad in leather armor and a light blue long-sleeved shirt, yelled.

"Well maybe if _someone _didn't waste all our money on a sword, we could've taken it!" the boy's companion, a young girl with long brown hair and bright green eyes, shouted back. She wore white and red robes, with a similarly colored ornate staff strapped to her back.

Currently, the two were running for their lives. Their pursuers were hot on their tails, furred beasts feared by many and hated by all.

Beowulves.

Aggressive without provocation, beowulves were usually nocturnal creatures that preyed on large mammals and, if hungry enough, humans. They are extremely large, a full-grown male being 5 and a half feet tall at the shortest. Thick black coats of rough fur not only increase their likeness with the shadows but also make them much more resilient to physical assault, one part of what made them one of nature's fiercest hunters.

Hence why they were only ever taken on by full parties of steel ranked adventurers. At minimum.

The duo weaved between the thick trunks of towering trees. They continued to run as fast as their tired legs would carry them, but the wolves were built for this exact occasion. To chase down prey and tear it to shreds.

The girl - Apprentice Cleric - spotted an opening in the trees, "To the left, quick!"

The boy - Rookie Warrior - obeyed without question, chasing after his companion through the trees and into the clearing.

"Wha-!"

Or he would have, had the toe of his boot not caught on a tree root that was protruding just the right way. Or the wrong way, in this case. The adventurer landed on the ground face first, eating dirt and grass as he clumsily rolled over his shoulder.

Apprentice Cleric turned back at his surprised outburst. She watched as he scrambled to get to his feet, but it was too late. The beowulves were right on top of him. She tried to reach out to grab her staff to defend him, but she was frozen in place, pure shock and horror paralyzing the girl.

Her best friend was going to die, and then they would come for her and-

_**Cra-boom!**_

Thunder roared from somewhere in the trees, and the snarling beowulf dropped to the ground, chunks of bloodied fur and gore splattering the forest floor. The air stilled, a moment passed.

More thunder.

Another beowulf's skull exploded into bits of fur and bloody bone, and the two remaining beasts sprung into action. They turned towards the direction the thunder had come from and disappeared into the treeline. Apprentice Cleric could hear the savage growls of the beasts as they ran towards their aggressor.

Another burst of thunder and a pained howl marked the demise of another of the beastly canines. The girl had to strain her hearing to just make out the sounds of a struggle deeper in the trees. A short moment passed, and the sharp cracking of bones pierced the air.

All was silent. A second passed, and the Cleric let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She looked toward her still downed companion, who was still staring into the forest, the blood drained from his face. She stumbled towards him on stiff legs.

"A-are you okay?" she asked him, extending a hand.

Rookie Warrior turned his intense gaze to his partner, "Y-yeah. Just a little shaken up." He took the offered hand and she pulled him to his feet, "What the heck just happened?"

The girl glanced at the treeline, "I-I'm not sure. There was the… thunder, and they just died."

"D'you think it was a mage?" Rookie Warrior questioned, brushing some of the dirt off of his armor.

Apprentice Cleric helplessly shrugged.

Rookie Warrior brushed off the last off the dirt and returned his gaze to his partner, "Well, whoever it was, I'm just glad-"

"_Are you alright?_"

* * *

Noble Six had only been on this planet for a week. And yet, he truly felt that he wouldn't be surprised to stumble upon even the most bizarre things reality had to offer.

Two children, who were clearly adventurers if their attire and weapons were anything to go by, being chased by the exact creatures he had been tasked with hunting and exterminating, for example.

Well, at least his job was made easier.

The Spartan stood across the small clearing from the two adventurers, MA37 in hand. They stared at him, eyes wide and mouths agape. It was the reaction he had come to expect from most people, and they never failed to deliver. He stared back at them, his golden visor and controlled posture betraying nothing.

It was the girl who spoke first, "Y-yes, we're okay." she observed him, her bright green eyes roaming over his armor and weapons. "I'm guessing you're the one who saved us?"

Six nodded, and the girl let out a relieved sigh, "Well then, you have our thanks, mister…?"

"_Spartan_."

The girl blinked, "Uh." she looked contemplative, likely trying to think of what his title meant. After a moment, she seemed to shrug it off, "Alright. I'm Apprentice Cleric, and this-" she pointed over her shoulder at her male companion, "-is my partner, Rookie Warrior. We were on a job to find some sort of artifact in some ruins deeper in the forest. But, as you saw, we ran into some trouble before we could actually get in."

Rookie Warrior let out a drawn-out sigh, "Man, and we were so close too."

Apprentice Cleric leveled a piercing glare at her partner, "We could've avoided the beowulves entirely if you hadn't been making so much noise."

"I-it wasn't my fault-" Six stopped paying attention to the duo's bickering.

The Spartan spared a glance at his motion tracker. Only two signatures, the two adventurers standing before him. Sure that there was no impending threat, Six placed the MA37 on his back. He walked past the duo, towards the corpses of the formerly feral canines before crouching next to the closest one. Six unsheathed his combat knife and smoothly sliced an ear from its head. He repeated the action with the other corpse, storing their stolen appendages in a compartment with the other two ears he had taken from his former adversaries. They would serve as proof of his work.

The Spartan looked back at the two adventurers. They were still arguing, but it seemed the subject had shifted to something about an artifact and a job. He hardly cared for their bickering.

"_Where did you find the beowulves?_"

The rough sound of the Supersoldier's voice caught the attention of the adventurers, and they shifted their gazes to his impassive visage.

It was Apprentice Cleric who answered his question, "About half a mile north from here, by some elven ruins." she sighed, "We were supposed to retrieve some sort of ancient elven relic from there, but, y'know, beowulves."

The Spartan mentally affirmed what she told him. The farmer who had sent out the extermination quest had told him the same thing regarding the ruins. However, the farmer had mentioned a pack of six wolves, not four. That meant there were still more, and as such, still posed a threat.

He couldn't allow that.

With a nod to Apprentice Cleric and Rookie Warrior, Six turned on his heel and began to walk in the direction the girl had pointed him in.

"W-wait!" the Cleric called out.

The Spartan paused.

"Would you mind if we accompanied you? We still need to get the relic, and we're kind of short on money, so…" the girl's green eyes met his golden visor, "please?"

Six hesitated, before shrugging. There was no real reason that they couldn't come. Maybe they would prove to be useful, somehow.

The two adventurers smiled in relief, and hurriedly followed after the towering soldier as he made his way into the forest.

* * *

Apprentice Cleric didn't really know what to think of the man(?) who had saved them. She glanced at the metallic giant marching next to her. He was easily one of the tallest beings she had ever encountered, nearly as tall as an Orc. His height wasn't the only thing odd about him, however. His armor was downright otherworldly, smoother and more angular than any she had ever seen. And his faceplate, if that was what it was…

She let out a silent breath as a shiver ran down her spine. The Cleric still couldn't shake the pure feeling of _wrongness_ that filled her at the sight of it. She had felt an odd sense of helplessness, like a mouse under the lethal gaze of an owl.

Nothing had ever made her feel that way. She decided she hated it.

Her gaze moved from his armored head to the strange weapon in his arms. She had no clue how he had managed to kill the beowulves earlier. She was pretty sure he was some sort of mage, except for the fact that she had heard no incantation, which she knew all magics required. There was just a thunderous blast, and the beasts died a gory death.

Apprentice Cleric shook her head clear of such thoughts. There was no use in thinking about it. Hopefully, she could just ask him about it later, if only to sate her curiosity.

Her eyes flicked over at her partner, who trailed behind their saviour, just to his right. Rookie Warrior seemed to have taken his near-death to the canine beasts in stride, but she knew better. He was only trying to act tough for her sake. The Cleric smiled softly.

He always acted for her sake.

She was shaken from her thoughts as the Spartan came to a stop, holding up a clenched fist. He stood just before the apparent treeline, where the trees opened to a shallow, green valley.

"_Hold._" She and her partner stopped to the sides of their apparent leader. The soldier pointed his strange weapon at the side of the opposite hill, further up the valley, "_Is this it?_"

Apprentice Cleric looked to where he indicated and saw the same massive wooden fortress she and Rookie Warrior had tried to get into earlier that day. Tried being the keyword, considering they had never actually gotten inside the fortress itself.

Her partner spoke first, "Yeah, that's the place. We ran into the beowulves at the base of the fortress, near the entrance. We, uh, never made it inside."

The two adventurers looked at the Spartan expectantly, waiting for some form of response. But, much to both the Rookie and the Cleric's confusion, an answer never came. The armored soldier simply shouldered his strange weapon once more and marched towards the fortress, looking towards something neither of them could see.

The Cleric turned to her partner, who unhelpfully shrugged.

She let out a silent sigh, before hurrying to catch up with the soldier, who was already halfway down the grassy slope.

Whatever he had planned, she just hoped he knew what he was doing.

* * *

There were goblins. Lots of goblins.

Six was crouched next to a large boulder, just 50 meters from the stone archway that led into the wooden fortress. Apprentice Cleric and Rookie Warrior were to his left, sat on the ground with their backs against the stone.

Two goblins with what looked to be bows stood on an overhang above the archway, one of which seemed to be asleep. Six assumed they were on guard duty, considering there were no other signs of activity outside the fortress. Inside, however, was a different story entirely. Even with his VISR's enhanced zoom, he could barely make out what looked like a mass of prone goblins. From what he could see, they were sleeping. Six hoped that was the case, it would make a stealth-op much easier to carry out.

He put hunting the beowulves on the backburner. These monstrosities posed much more of a threat than a couple of overgrown mutts.

The Spartan spoke to his companions, "_There's goblins._"

"W-what?" Rookie Warrior looked surprised, "There's no way, there weren't any earlier..." he trailed off, "I-I mean, I don't think there were," he looked to his partner, "right?"

The Cleric grimly nodded, "No, there weren't. But they could've just been inside. We never made it in, so there's no way to be sure."

Six idly nodded, continuing to observe the fortress. He spotted some sort of gash in the wooden walls of the fortress, just to the left of the entrance archway. A plan formed within his augmented mind.

With a mental command, the Spartan returned his HUD to normal and turned to his companions, shouldering the MA37 as he adjusted.

"_Sit tight and stay hidden. Dissuade any who attempt to approach the fortress. I'm going in._"

The duo blankly stared.

Apprentice Cleric blinked away her shock and moved to speak, but Six didn't give her the chance. He quickly activated his active camouflage and disappeared from sight.

The Spartan swiftly advanced on the towering structure. His footfalls made no noise, his transparent shimmering form invisible to all but the sharpest of eyes. He halted next to the opening in the wooden walls, carefully aiming his MA37 inside. The opening led to a narrow hallway that looked to lead further into the structure. The wooden halls were sparsely lit by makeshift torches held together by what looked like organic twine.

Sparing a final glance at his motion tracker, Six hurdled over the side of the opening, landing without a sound. He looked in either direction, head on a swivel and weapon at the ready. He spared another glance at his motion tracker. No signatures. Sure that there were no hostiles in the immediate area, the Spartan picked a direction, and marched onward.

To Six's surprise, he encountered no resistance within the narrow wooden hallways. The only evidence of the goblin's inhabitance of the massive wooden structure being the layers of tracks upon the dirty wood floors. Six was sure that, given the lack of any goblin activity within the halls, the goblins in the courtyard area were most likely all there were.

That was good. The less there were, the better.

The Spartan's silent march eventually met it's end in the form of a dead end. A tall wooden wall with a wooden ladder that seemed to be made of sticks and worn rope led upwards into what Six assumed to be the second floor of the fortress. It was quite obvious to Six that the flimsy ladder would fall apart the moment he even looked at it wrong, so he decided to improvise.

Six's armored fist splintered the wooden wall. The supersoldier grasped the edge of the newly made gash in the formerly smooth wood and pulled down with a good amount of his augmented strength. The wall held. The Spartan repeated his actions with his right arm, and with little more than one final glance at his motion tracker, Six began the slow - and rather unorthodox - climb up the fortress wall.

Strangely, he had still yet to encounter any form of resistance, goblin or otherwise. Six had counted about 15 to 20 goblins in the courtyard from outside, not counting the two goblins he had seen to be on the lookout.

His brow scrunched in thought as he pulled himself onto the second floor. Were they - the goblins - really this incompetent? No security sweeps? Especially in such a massive structure? For some reason, the goblin's apparent incompetence made him despise them all the more.

Six's eyes darted from wall to wall as he once more walked down the wooden halls, the weapon in his arms methodically making it's sweeps all the while. His advance through the halls was swift and silent, and after a short time of cautious skulking, he arrived at an open archway leading to the lookout.

The two blips on his motion tracker confirmed his targets.

The Spartan disappeared into the transparent shimmer of active camouflage before moving out onto the lookout itself. The nearest goblin was the one he had spotted sleeping beforehand, reclined against the wall with it's crude bow at it's side. The creature's sleep was made permanent with a plunge of his blade. Six tore his combat knife from the goblin's skull, making sure to clean the blood from his blade on the goblin's ragged loincloth.

The remaining goblin stood at the edge of the overhang, it's bulbous yellow eyes half lidded in boredom - none-the-wiser to the death of it's ally, nor it's killer. Six's arm shot out, his armored fingers tightly wrapping around the green monstrosity's bony neck. With little fanfare, the Spartan gave his grip a fraction of his augmented strength and a cacophony of sickening _crunch_es followed the creature's powderized vertebrae. Six released his grip on the mangled goblin, allowing it to fall to the ground in a green heap.

A quick glance at his motion tracker showed that the Spartan's handiwork had notified none. Satisfied, Six swiftly sheathed his combat knife and manually deactivated his active camouflage, allowing it to recharge for later use.

He considered his next course of action for a brief moment, before pulling the M45 from his back. The supersoldier racked his weapon and advanced into the fortress, fully anticipating the bloodbath that was sure to come.

* * *

It didn't take long for Apprentice Cleric to remember why sitting around wasn't a popular hobby.

While Spartan had only left a short while earlier, leaving them to keep watch from the boulder they used as back support, the combination of anxiety from both the Spartan's abrupt disappearance and the lack of activity from the elven fortress had given her a sense of _I need to do something now_.

Hence, her boredom.

Though, at the very least, she wasn't alone in her anxious waiting. The Cleric glanced to her right, her eyes flicking between her partner's frustrated expression and the sword and scabbard in his hands.

The moment they had realized their newly-acquainted knight in not-so-shining armor had left them here, he began fidgeting with his sword and it's wrongly fitted scabbard, to varying degrees of success. While it wasn't much of a pressing matter now, it most certainly had been when they first attempted to enter the fortress.

They had actually gotten pretty close to the fortress itself, closer than they were now, in fact. But, it seemed that they were less than welcome, and their very presence had alerted the pack of beowulves.

Her and Rookie Warrior had actually meant to fight them at first, but alas, her _incredibly competent_ partner had forgotten to get a new scabbard for his new sword, which they had spent nearly all of their coin on as a replacement for the last one that he had _lost in the sewers_. The Warrior's sword was stuck in it's sheath, limiting their course of action to two options:

She would attempt to fight off a pack of silver-ranked beasts with nothing but two miracles and a glorified stick while her partner struggled to hopefully unsheathe the blade that was supposed to make their lives easier.

Run.

They chose the latter.

In all honesty, the first choice was nothing more than a fleeting thought, but the Cleric found life less stressful when she had options.

She let out a sigh for what seemed to be the tenth time since Spartan had quite literally vanished. Her eyes returned to her partner, watching his frustration with no small amount of her own.

The Cleric still had no clue how he had even managed to jam the sword into such an undersized sheath.

She turned her gaze to the cloudless midday skies. The all-encompassing blue filled her mind and her sight, her eyes becoming half lidded as boredom began to take hold once more.

Apprentice Cleric felt more than heard the approaching footsteps.

She felt it under her fingertips, where her hands rested upon the grassy ground. A methodical, nearly imperceptible tremble of the dirt. After a moment of focus, her ears began to pick up the sound of footsteps, in near perfect sync with the light trembling of the ground.

She perked up, straightening out of the relaxed slouch her body formerly occupied. She looked down the overgrown dirt path that led further into the hills, toward a nearby village. She could see two silhouettes, one much larger than the other.

The Cleric turned to her friend, eyes wide, "Hey, do you see-"

"Hah! I've got it!"

A blade whizzed by, inches from her face.

Apprentice Cleric froze on the spot, her mouth paused in an "O".

She blinked.

Several strands of light brown hair gracefully drifted to the ground.

She blinked again.

Her wide eyes slowly moved to her partner. His face was deathly pale.

He slowly raised the sword and scabbard in his hands.

"H-hey, look, I-I got-"

She erupted.

"You _stupid_\- You could've killed me!" She screamed. Her enraged expression mirrored her tone.

The Rookie flinched, his eyes lowering in shame and embarrassment.

"S-sorry…"

Apprentice Cleric took a deep breath, pressing a hand to her chest in an attempt to calm her frantic heartbeat, and let out a long sigh. Her partner's eyes were focused on the blade in his grip.

She let out another sigh, "I-it's fine. Just… please think before you do something so stupid again."

Rookie Warrior frantically nodded, "Yeah, that was pretty stupid. B-but hey! At least we can actually fight now!"

"You saying I can't fight?"

"Uh, er, no, but I-"

"E-excuse us!"

Both adventurers' heads snapped towards the owner of the voice.

Before them stood two people - adventurers, if their attire was anything to go by. One was clearly a man, while the other was a young girl dressed in white and gold robes. She had long blonde hair that reached down her back, along with a white and blue priest hat atop her head.

The Cleric noticed the ornate staff in the girl's arms and affirmed that, yes, this girl was quite clearly some sort of priestess.

The other adventurer stood stock still to the girl's right, staring down at the two of them. He wore dark grey leather and iron armor, covered in dirt and grime. His face was hidden behind a similarly colored iron helmet with vertical slits along the front. There were two bony stubs on either side of his headgear, like the helmet used to have a pair of horns, but something had torn them off. A shredded tuft of red cloth hung from the back of his helm.

The adventurer held a large wooden bow in his arms, along with a quiver full of arrows strapped to his backside.

Apprentice Cleric noticed a metallic glint near the armored man's neck, and her eyes widened in recognition.

"S-silver…"

The Cleric shot to her feet in an instant, her partner mimicking her just as quickly.

"O-oh! I'm so sorry, we didn't notice you! Please forgive us." Both she and her partner bowed their heads in tandem.

The blonde girl blankly stared at the back of their bowed heads for a moment. She blinked, and her expression morphed into panic.

"H-hey, you don't have a-anything to apologize for! U-um, please, r-raise your heads." The priestess frantically waved her free hand in front of her, attempting to assuage their fears.

The two adventurers promptly followed her instruction.

Apprentice Cleric let out a silent sigh in relief. Even if she and Rookie Warrior had only been adventurers for the better part of a month, they knew that anyone who earned the rank of silver was someone to be respected.

Rookie Warrior rubbed the back of his head, a nervous tic that he displayed for as long as the Cleric had known him.

The priestess moved to speak once more, but her silver-ranked companion, the man in the grimey leather armor, finally tore his gaze from the elven fortress.

"They are not alone."

His deep, monotone statement startled each of the porcelain-ranked adventurers. They turned their gazes to meet his impassive visage.

Apprentice Cleric couldn't help but compare his slitted helm to that of their other armored acquaintance. She felt a shiver run down her spine.

Nope, Spartan was still far more terrifying.

"R-really?" The blonde priestess looked to the Cleric and her partner, "U-um, a-are you two with s-someone else?"

Apprentice Cleric and Rookie Warrior glanced at each other. After a moment, her partner hesitantly nodded, and the Cleric returned her gaze to the girl in front of them.

"Yes, we are- er, we _were_ with someone else, but he decided to, well, kinda' _disappear_." Apprentice Cleric shook her head in disbelief. While she had a while to process the fact that Spartan had literally _vanished into thin air_, she simply could not comprehend the action. There had been no incantation, no magical catalyst, nothing. He had simply done it.

Considering everything she had seen of him so far, she really shouldn't have been surprised.

Cleric pulled herself from her thoughts, "A-anyways, he went into the fortress a while ago, so he should be back soo-"

_**Boom**_

An impossibly loud sound slammed against Apprentice Cleric's eardrums, her palms slapping to her ears as pain racked it's way into her head. The others, sans the silver-ranked, had similar reactions. The blonde girl in particular let out a panicked squeal.

They were given little time to recover from the assault on their ears. A cacophony of _boom_s and the unmistakable garbled screams of dying goblins rang out soon after the initial explosion of sound.

Apprentice Cleric grimaced as she felt a lance of pain shoot through her mind, and a headache quickly began to set in. She let out a low groan and used the tips of her fingers to massage her temples, careful to keep her palms over her ears.

She had always been sensitive to certain sounds. It would seem that these were some of them.

She glanced over at the blonde girl and her companion. She noted that the taller adventurer seemed undisturbed. He looked a bit tense -as tense as someone in full armor could look, anyways. But otherwise, he just calmly stared out at the fortress.

Another _boom_ sounded from within the elven structure, and it finally clicked within the Cleric's aching mind that they were probably the result of her _other_ armored acquaintance. She guessed he had to be using one of his strange metal staves, if not more than one, considering the diversity of the sounds assaulting her ears.

She squeezed her eyes shut and lightly shook her head.

After a moment longer, the sound ceased to be. All the screams, _boom_s, _cra-boom_s, and other various noises had stopped. The air was still for a moment, as if the nightmarish chorus had never existed.

She hesitantly opened her eyes, glancing at her similarly grimacing adventures, and slowly lowered her palms from her ears. Cleric let out a relieved breath at the blissful silence that greeted her painfully abused eardrums.

The silence was broken all too soon, by none other than the silver-ranked adventurer himself.

"...Your friend?"

Apprentice Cleric gave a slow nod, trying and failing not to aggravate her pounding headache.

The armored adventurer returned his gaze to the elven structure.

"Hm."

"M-maybe we should g-go see if t-they need help?" The Priestess spoke up, sounding rather unsure of herself.

The Cleric severely doubted they could do anything to help Spartan. From what she had seen and heard, they would only serve to slow him down. She nodded in agreement regardless.

The rest of the group gave various forms of affirmation, and after spending a moment more to recuperate, they made the short walk to the fortress archway.

* * *

It wasn't often that Six lost his temper.

But, as he crushed the skull of a mutilated hobgoblin underfoot, he realized that was exactly what he had done.

The Spartan stood above the remains of countless goblins. What little remained of their grossly misshapen and disfigured bodies was marred by the veritable sea of red that painted the ground around them. The corpses of dozens of the green monstrosities, blown to gory chunks and torn limb from limb, covered the once clean dirt courtyard.

Six replaced his M45 on his back, before swiftly reloading the MA37 in his arms. He surveyed the blood-splattered grounds, and his eyes came to rest on the source of his cold rage.

Across from the supersoldier, at the back of the courtyard, just next to the rear of the fortress, were five women. Their arms and legs were bound by crude rope, tying their blood-covered and broken bodies to wooden boards, propped against the rear wall.

He slowly approached their bodies, hoping against what his motion tracker already seemed to confirm. Their wounds were greater than most could ever hope to survive. Six stopped, just a meter from the red-headed woman crucified at the forefront. The stillness of her bloodied chest confirmed his fears.

They were long dead.

The Spartan tightened his grip on the weapon in his arms. His pure, unbridled _hatred_ for the wretched green monstrosities skyrocketed. Were it possible, he would gladly revive every single one of the creatures, if only to slaughter them in more horrible ways than they could possibly imagine.

He could only hope that a special place in Hell awaited them.

Just as he was about to turn away, something caught his eye. Something glistened in the sunlight, on the upper portion of the red-headed woman's thigh. Six narrowed his eyes as he looked closer.

It wasn't blood. No, it couldn't be, it was far too translucent. It also seemed to stick to her, rather than flow downward like the blood covering the rest of her body had. But what else-

The Spartan's jaw tightened as it clicked in his mind.

It all began to make sense. The goblins kidnapping human women, raiding villages, multiplying like rats…

He had no idea how he hadn't seen it sooner.

They used human women to breed. They _raped and pillaged_ human villages, both for supplies and for breeding stock.

Disgust welled up in the Spartan's mind. His rage multiplied. He grit his teeth as he looked closer at the dangling corpses. Certain wounds began to stand out to his augmented eyes. The massive bruises covering their stomachs, the scabbed scratches layered on the inside of their legs, the distinctive stretch-marks just above their nether regions.

They were used for breeding, most likely without reprieve between births, and then killed when the goblins had enough.

It… it was disgusting. Repulsive. Horrid.

He had seen many things; he had done many things. Things that would give even the toughest of men nightmares. Things that made soldiers go mad, made officers cringe in disgust, made spooks raise a brow in concern.

But this; _this_ was evil. This world was evil.

It had to be. If this wasn't evil, then he didn't know what was.

A loud, startled feminine yelp echoed against the wooden walls.

Six spun to face the owner of the voice, his weapon snapping to attention faster than the eye could see. His finger brushed against the trigger, but as soon as his enhanced mind processed the new arrivals, his grip on his rifle loosened, if only slightly.

He recognized the two adventurers he had saved beforehand, who he had told to stay put. Considering how much noise he had made, though, Six couldn't exactly blame them for coming to see what was going on. Although from the faces the two teenagers were making as they surveyed the aftermath of the Spartan's assault on the goblins, he had a feeling they fully regretted coming themselves.

Six reminded himself to point the two towards the elven storeroom he had seen further inside the structure. Whatever they were looking for was probably somewhere in there.

Next to the Spartan's temporary allies stood two other adventurers. One of which he clearly recognized.

Long blonde hair, gold, blue and white robes and a tall, ornate staff. It was Priestess. She held a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. The yelp must have come from her.

The other adventurer, clad in some sort of metal and leather armor, along with a beat-up slitted helm, stood just to her right. He held a large wooden bow in his hands and stood stock still, meeting the Spartan's gaze without flinching. Six realized he was the first on this world to do so.

His hostility assuaged by the presence of his former teammate, Six slowly lowered his rife, and decided to break the ice.

"_Identify yourself._"

They all looked at him.

Priestess's eyes widened further, her shock at the surrounding carnage forgotten,"S-Spartan!?"

Apprentice Cleric and Rookie Warrior looked at the girl, expressions surprised.

Six didn't take his eyes off the unknown, "_Identify yourself._" he slowly began to raise his weapon, "_Now._"

"S-Spartan!" Priestess stepped forwards, moving her hand in a placating gesture, "H-he's a friend! His n-name is-"

"Goblin Slayer." The armored man spoke, his voice a low monotone. He sounded younger than Six had expected someone of his attire to be, but it wasn't all that surprising, company considered.

The now titled Goblin Slayer stepped forward, surveying the green and red mass of death surrounding them.

"...You did this?"

Threat (seemingly) assuaged, Six lowered his weapon once more, and gave the man a shallow nod.

"Hm."

The armored adventurer stepped close to the line of bound women. He crouched, brought a gloved hand to the red-headed corpse's bruised stomach, and let out another "Hm".

Goblin Slayer stood, "They've been here for days. Wounds are old." His helmeted head turned from one bound corpse to the next. A moment passed, and he turned to face the rest of the group, Spartan included.

"There is nothing we can do."

The man was blunt, if anything. Six could appreciate that.

The rest of the group stayed quiet. Six rounded to face the line of crucified corpses.

During the war with the Covenant, there had been less than no time for ceremony. Funerals were few and far between in the 25 long years of one-sided slaughter humanity tried, most likely in vain, to survive. Six still felt little need or necessity for death ceremonies, but that didn't mean no one else felt otherwise.

Six turned to the three younger adventurers, "_There is a room within the eastern walls, through there._" he indicated an open archway across the courtyard with a point of his armored finger, "_It contains blankets. Bring them here._"

The three adventurers gave the Supersoldier a quick nod, before hurriedly making their way toward the storage room. He knew they had most likely never been in a combat situation like this. It wasn't every day that one encountered the aftermath of a raging Spartan, after all.

Six turned to face the remaining adventurer. Goblin Slayer stood over a bloody mass of green flesh that vaguely resembled a hobgoblin. As if he were able to feel the Spartan's gaze, the armored adventurer looked up from the gory pulp and met Six's visored stare.

Six wanted information, "_Why are you here?_"

"Goblins"

Six barely held back a snort. The man named Goblin Slayer came to slay goblins. Obviously.

The man's curtness left no room for continued questioning - not that Six had much to ask, regardless. The man was an ally, thus not an immediate concern. The two warriors fell into silence once more.

Soon enough, Rookie Warrior and Apprentice Cleric appeared in the open archway, arms full with dirtied bundles of cloth. Six noted the distinct lack of a certain blonde-haired priestess.

"_Where is Priestess?_"

Rookie Warrior scrunched his brow, "What do you mean? She's right behind-" he turned to look behind him, "Oh."

That wasn't reassuring.

Fearing the worst, the Spartan tightened his grip on his rifle as he quickly moved to the archway, "_Stay here and cover the bodies._" he barked out.

Six's mind kicked into overdrive in preparation for potential combat. Possibilities of what may have befallen the young adventurer were thought up and ruled out within milliseconds of one another.

Six navigated the corner of the archway and steadily proceeded down the narrow wooden hallway, MA37 raised and at the ready. He noted the grey blip on his motion tracker following behind him. He glanced back to see the grimy leather armor of Goblin Slayer. He would have preferred to be alone, but considering Priestess was Goblin Slayer's squadmate, he decided against objecting.

Another grey blip appeared on Six's motion tracker, in the same room he had sent the adventurers to retrieve the cloth. There was only one signature. Either Priestess was still alive and had stayed behind for whatever reason, she had been ensnared in a trap he somehow managed to miss, or she was dead and the signature was a goblin. He hoped for the former, prepared for the latter.

Six raised his right hand and gestured toward the room. Goblin Slayer soundlessly nodded his understanding, holding a long dagger in a reverse grip. Six stopped just before the doorway, sparing a glance back at the lowly lit form of Goblin Slayer once more.

Oddly, Six felt a sudden… buzzing in the back of his mind. The feeling went ignored in favor of the mission.

Without a sound, Six moved into the doorway, his form little more than a midnight black blur in the low light of the near-exhausted torches. His rifle zeroed in on the potential hostile, armored finger a hair's width from impression.

"_...Priestess?_"

"Eeep!"

Priestess scrambled in panic and promptly fell on her rear. Six raised an unseen brow in concern.

"M-Mister Spartan! Mister Goblin Slayer!" Priestess shot to her feet, and in the process, nearly tripped over her fallen staff. She braced herself against an oddly warped portion of the wall she had been crouching in front of beforehand.

"S-sorry!" Six had no clue why she was apologizing, "I-I was just- I-I mean, I found something." She retrieved her staff and pointed at the wall, "Look."

Six stepped closer to said wall. A small portion of exposed wood bulged outwards, not unlike a wart or some sort of wooden blister. Embedded in the center of the strange bulge sat a sort of dark green gem. The dim light provided by the hanging torches reflected strangely on the dark gem's smooth surface.

The buzzing in Six's head decided to make itself known once again, and intensified tenfold.

Six narrowed his eyes in annoyance. It felt like radio static in the form of a mild headache.

"U-um, do either of you feel that?" Priestess held a hand to her forehead.

"Headache?" Goblin Slayer questioned.

Priestess nodded, running a hand along her temple, "I-It's like a sort of… buzzing? L-like the sound gravel makes when you walk on it. But in my head." she winced, "Do you feel it, too?"

Goblin Slayer grunted his affirmation.

Six idly remembered the "elven artifact" Rookie Warrior and Apprentice Cleric had mentioned. Although he hardly felt that a green rock fit the description of an artifact, he had long since abandoned anything resembling expectations when it concerned this planet and it's… people.

The buzzing numbness that the two seemed to share with him -of which he was sure the gem was the cause- only attested to the rock's unnatural properties. A headache in more ways than one.

He might as well retrieve it for the two adventurers. No reason to waste more time than was necessary.

"_We're taking it._"

Six reached forward and took hold of the smooth gem. He promptly tore it from it's resting place, rending the wooden wart and sending splinters of wood flying in every direction.

Then the torches went out. And the earth beneath their feet trembled.

The wooden structure shifted. The walls began to sprout.

It was then that Six decided he really didn't like this planet.

**X**

**To be clear: I make no promises.**


End file.
